Robert Pickton, a notorious serial killer from B.C., is on life support after being brutally attacked by another inmate at the Port-Cartier Institution, a maximum security prison in Quebec.
He was airlifted to Quebec City Hospital at approximately 2 p.m. local time.
According to one source, the man who had attacked had previously assaulted other inmates at the facility before being moved to segregation. He was then released onto the same unit as Pickton, after which he attacked the serial killer.
Pickton was allegedly struck and stabbed in the head with a broken broom handle.
The assault was confirmed by The Correctional Service Cnada late monday. However, they would not comment on his condition.
In a previous news release, they said they will be investigating the incident. The prisoner who attacked Pickton has also been identified and taken care of.
When contacted by phone on Monday, however, no one at the Port-Cartier Institution could comment on Pickton’s medical condition.
Ian Runkle, Pickton’s lawyer, only said that his client was attacked at the facility and that he is now in critical condition with a serious brain injury. He maintained there’s nothing he can say at this point, though ‘it may change’ in the future.
When asked about the serial killer’s condition, the hospital where Pickton is staying also said there ‘was nothing to share at this time’ due to privacy issues.
According to other inmates, Pickton had allegedly been writing a book about how another person was responsible for the murders of the women that he was convicted for.
Port-Cartier Institution, a maximum security prison, is located in Quebec, just north of the St. Lawrence River.
A Serial Killer That Preyed on Women
Pickton was convicted of murdering six women – Georgina Papin, Sereena Abotsway, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Andrew Josebury, Marnie Frey, and Mona Wilson – in 2007. He was also charged with killing 21 additional women, though the cases were never heard in court.
On top of that, officials found the DNA of six additional women on his pig farm, though charges were never laid.
Not long after being convicted, the serial killer had once bragged to an undercover officer in his prison cell that he murdered 49 women. Prior to his arrest in 2002, over 60 women had disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Over the past months, advocates for other missing women as well as families of his victims had spoken out against the B.C. Supreme Court’s application to destroy over 14,000 pieces of evidence that were seized from the serial killer’s Port Coquitlam property.
They believe destroying the exhibits will affect future investigations as forensic technology is constantly advancing and have helped resolve old cases in the past.
However, the police insists the items no longer have any value from an investigative perspective. The exhibits, which range from furniture to clothing belonging to the missing women, will be returned to their families if the application is approved.
