BC serial killer Robert Pickton brutally attacked in prison

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Notorious British Columbia serial killer Robert (Willie) Pickton was placed on a ventilator on Monday after he was brutally attacked by another inmate at Quebec’s maximum security Port-Cartier prison.

Pickton was flown to hospital following the attack, which sources said occurred just before 2pm local time on Sunday, May 19.

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A source said the attacker had previously attacked other inmates in the prison before being placed in isolation. The attack on Pickton allegedly occurred after the prisoner was released back into the same unit as the serial killer. Postmedia have learned.

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According to another source, Pickton was stabbed in the head with a broken broom-like handle.

The Correctional Service of Canada issued a news release late Monday saying a Port-Cartier inmate was the victim of a “serious assault.” CSC did not identify the victim but said he was taken to the hospital.

“The Sûreté du Québec is currently investigating the incident. “The attacker has been identified and appropriate measures have been taken,” the press release said.

The CSC did not respond Monday to telephone and email requests for information that Pickton was a victim of the attack.

Nobody at the Port Cartier Institution wanted to comment either.

“We don’t have anyone who can talk to you,” said the answering machine at the maximum security prison. “Call tomorrow and someone will speak to you.”

When contacted by telephone and asked whether his client had been attacked in prison and was now in hospital with a serious brain injury, Pickton’s lawyer Ian Runkle said on Monday: “I have nothing I can say at this stage. That may change, but I can’t share anything at this point.”

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Sources said Pickton was taken to the Child Jesus Hospital in Quebec City. Postmedia called the hospital and asked specifically about Pickton’s condition.
An admissions department official said they had “nothing to share at this time due to confidentiality reasons.”

Pickton told other inmates that he was writing a book blaming someone else for the murders of women for which he was convicted.

The Port-Cartier Institution houses 237 men and is located north of the St. Lawrence River and about 600 kilometers from Quebec City.

Pickton, now 74, was convicted by a jury of the murders of six women – Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey – at his Supreme Court trial in 2007.

However, he was also accused of killing 21 other women. These charges were eventually dropped and never brought to trial.

In addition to these cases, DNA from another six women was found at Pickton’s farm in Port Coquitlam, but no additional charges were ever filed.

The former pig farmer once bragged to an undercover detective in his prison cell that he had killed 49 women. Before Pickton’s arrest in February 2002, more than 60 women had disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

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Lorimer Shenher, a writer and former Vancouver police lead investigator in the missing women investigation, said Monday he learned of the attack on Pickton over the weekend.

“Obviously Mr Pickton has caused a lot of distress to a lot of people. “Unfortunately, an attack like this only serves to further obscure the truth about this case so that any remaining perpetrators can be brought to justice,” Shenher said. “It has been an open secret for more than 20 years that these murders were not committed by Robert Pickton alone.”

In recent months, families of his victims and lawyers for other missing women have opposed an RCMP request in British Columbia Supreme Court to destroy more than 14,000 items seized from Pickton’s property during the lengthy investigation.

The critics said destroying the exhibits could harm future investigations, especially as advances in forensic technology that have already led to solutions in decades-old unsolved cases continue.

The RCMP insists the evidence no longer has investigative value. Police said a small portion of the 14,000 items, ranging from clothing to furniture, belonged to missing women and would be returned to their families. The motion is scheduled to be heard next month.

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Pickton became eligible for days of probation in February, sparking outrage from victims’ relatives and several politicians who said he should never be released.

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