MONTREAL – Guy Turcotte is not the same man who killed his two young children in 2009, a psychiatrist testified Thursday at a hearing on whether the cardiologist should be released from hospital custody after being found last year to be not criminally responsible for the double murder.
“There is no reason, either medical or in terms of the danger he poses, that he should stay in hospital,” said Dr. Louis Morrissette, who is testifying on Turcotte’s behalf.
Thursday is the fourth day of hearings to be held on Turcotte’s future.
Because of the verdict of not criminally responsible, a special panel of five experts is hearing evidence on Turcotte’s likelihood of reoffending. The panel has three choices: release Turcotte outright, release him with conditions, or keep him detained at a psychiatric hospital.
Turcotte is being held at the Philippe Pinel Institute, where Thursday’s hearing took place.
Morrissette was the first of two psychiatrists to take the stand Thursday.
Closing arguments are expected Friday.
Morrissette said conditions could not be more favourable for Turcotte’s release: He has family support; he is aware of the obstacles he faces in returning to society; he recognizes his actions; he wants psychiatric help.
A jury found in June that Turcotte was not criminally responsible for his actions when he drank windshield wiper fluid in a botched suicide attempt, then stabbed his two children, Olivier, 5, and Anne Sophie, 3, dozens of times as they slept in their beds.
Turcotte, a prominent cardiologist in St. Jérôme, spent several days on the witness stand detailing the acrimonious breakdown of his marriage to fellow doctor Isabelle Gaston that preceded the bloodbath.
As for the worrisome “missing link” that other professionals testifying at the hearing have raised about their lack of insight into Turcotte’s actions, Morrissette said in his opinion there isn’t one. The psychiatrist said Turcotte’s actions match the typical profile of someone who commits such acts out of “altruism.” In other words, Turcotte, like most people who kill family members, did it to alleviate perceived suffering. Even the extent of the violence – 27 stab wounds to Olivier, and 19 to Anne Sophie – is not unusual, Morrissette said, noting the doctor was intoxicated and emotional at the time.
Morrissette said he never read the coroner’s report on the deaths of the two children. He said he spent a total of 11 hours with Turcotte and has also proposed treating the prisoner if he is released.
The hearing adjourned early for lunch because to a “technical difficulty” and is to resume Thursday afternoon.
About 40 people demonstrated outside the Pinel Institute during the hearing to offer moral support for Gaston, the children’s mother, and to oppose Turcotte’s release.
Camille St-Denis, from the advocacy group SOS Violence Conjugale, said the public is watching the outcome of the Turcotte case very closely, and she worries about the message his ultimate reintegration to society would send.
She said her group, which combats family violence, has received disturbing calls from women who claim their husbands have threatened to kill their children and noted that Turcotte got away with it.
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