Inmate charged with 1st-degree murder in death of serial killer Robert Pickton
Martin Charest, 52, was charged on July 3 for allegedly attacking Pickton at Quebec's Port-Cartier maximum security prison.
Pickton died in hospital on May 31, 2024, 12 days after he was assaulted, but no charges were laid at the time.
An investigation report released earlier this month revealed Pickton was assaulted by a fellow inmate who broke a broom handle and thrust it into his face, and a separate report by an independent observer named Charest as the suspect.
Pickton was convicted in 2007 on six counts of second-degree murder but was suspected of killing dozens more women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Charest will appear in court on Thursday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
27 minutes ago
- CTV News
Offices of Le Journal de Montréal, TVA Group vandalized
SPVM police vehicles are seen in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi) The offices of Quebecor's Le Journal de Montréal and TVA Group in the city's Plateau-Mont-Royal borough were vandalized late Thursday night. Montreal police (SPVM) received several 911 calls at 10:30 p.m. about the incident 'at a media company' on the corner of Frontenac Street and Mont-Royal Avenue. 'When police officers arrived on the scene, the suspects had already fled,' said Caroline Chèvrefils, a spokesperson with Montreal police. 'According to the first information we have, the suspects smashed the glass of the door and the windows and threw paint at the building.' She adds that there were employees in the building at the time, but there were no reported injuries. There have been no arrests. Officers say they plan to inspect video surveillance footage in order to understand what happened, and the investigation is ongoing.
CBC
28 minutes ago
- CBC
Sentencing expected Friday for girl found guilty of manslaughter in deadly Toronto swarming attack
Social Sharing An Ontario judge is set to deliver his sentence this afternoon in the case of a teen girl found guilty of manslaughter in a deadly swarming attack on a homeless Toronto man. The girl was 14 when she and seven other teens attacked Kenneth Lee in a downtown Toronto parkette in December 2022. The 59-year-old died in hospital after undergoing emergency surgery. All eight girls were charged with second-degree murder, and seven ended up pleading guilty to lesser charges — five to manslaughter, one to assault and one to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. This girl also tried to plead guilty to manslaughter as her trial began earlier this year, but the Crown rejected her plea. Months later, Ontario Justice Philip Campbell found her not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Prosecutors initially said they would ask for the girl to spend some time in custody as part of her sentence but changed course earlier this week, instead arguing for a 16-month probation sentence, with the first year under an intensive support and supervision program. The defence argues the girl should receive a sentence of 12 months of probation, with a minimum of six months in an intensive support and supervision program. Girl apologized in court on Wednesday On Wednesday, the girl offered a tearful apology as she addressed the court, saying she accepts full responsibility for her actions and is making an effort to change herself for the better. "I know nothing I say will ever change what happened, but I still want to say that I'm truly sorry and I accept full responsibility and I am making an effort to grow as a person and learn from it and I'm disappointed in the actions and decisions I made," she said. WATCH | Teen girl found guilty of manslaughter in fatal Toronto swarming attack: 2nd teen sentenced in death of Kenneth Lee gets 21 months probation 10 months ago The second teen to be sentenced in the 2022 death of Toronto homeless man Kenneth Lee will not serve any more time in custody, but will spend close to two years under probation. The 15-year-old girl pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year. CBC's Greg Ross has more on where the cases of the girls' co-accused stand. The late-night attack that shocked the city was captured on security video, and the footage served as the central piece of evidence at trial. Prosecutors argued the girl was the one who fatally wounded Lee, stabbing him with a knife or small pair of scissors in the melee. The defence, however, argued it was impossible to tell from the video who stabbed Lee or when, noting Lee himself didn't realize he'd been stabbed at the time. No knife was recovered in the investigation, and the girl's lawyers said she didn't have one at any point that night. At the time of her arrest, she had two small pairs of scissors and some tweezers, court heard. Lee died from hemorrhagic shock after he was stabbed in the heart, the forensic pathologist who examined his body told the court. The pathologist testified it was unlikely the scissors found with the girl would have caused the wound to Lee's heart, though they could have caused a smaller, non-fatal stab wound near his armpit. Campbell said prosecutors had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the girl was responsible for the fatal injury, or that she had the state of mind required for murder.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Northwestern Ontario receives funding boost to fight against human trafficking
Jaye Wesley says northwestern Ontario has seen a stark rise in human trafficking cases over the last five years. "The communities that surround Kenora are seeing a huge rise in luring and grooming the youth," said Wesley, who is the board chair for the Kenora Coalition Against Human Trafficking and the executive director of the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre, which provides a number of wraparound services. "It's being done online because a lot of these communities are isolated and the internet is obviously very well used by young people." To help curb these risks, the Ontario government is spending $6 million to launch a new Children at Risk of Exploitation (CARE) unit in the northwestern Ontario city. The new CARE unit will be led by Anishinaabe Abinoojii Family Services and Kenora-Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services. The launch, announced on Wednesday, is part of a broader announcement that the province is spending $345 million on the renewal of its Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy. In 2023, 570 human trafficking cases were reported to police across the country, according to Statistics Canada. That number represents a 395.7 percent increase in yearly cases since 2013. "Our strategy will continue to provide specialized supports to protect children and youth from sex trafficking," said Michael Parsa, Ontario's minister of children, community and social services at Wednesday's press conference. Ontario alone accounts for 58 per cent of reported human trafficking cases, according to the provincial government. Highway 401 in southern Ontario has become known as a hotspot for human traffickers, connecting major cities like London and Toronto to the U.S.-Canada border in Windsor. However, northwestern Ontario also finds itself susceptible to human trafficking, with its close proximity to major traffic arteries like Highway 11-17, Lake Superior, and provincial and international borders, said Wesley. It's being done online because a lot of these communities are isolated and the internet is obviously very well used by young people. - Jaye Wesley, board chair for the Kenora Coalition Against Human Trafficking and executive director of the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre She adds that Kenora's population tends to swell in the summer due to tourists, as well as people from remote First Nation communities coming to the city to access services. The Native Women's Association of Canada estimates that Indigenous women account for roughly half of all human trafficking cases in Canada. Meanwhile, roughly a quarter of all cases across the country involve children and youth under the age of 18, according to Statistics Canada. "Some of our children and youth have experienced the effects of intergenerational trauma, poverty and abuse. This puts them in a vulnerable position to seek affection or attention," said Katherine Machimity, director of services for Tikinagan Child and Family Services, in an emailed statement. Machimity added that the organization, which is based in Sioux Lookout, hired a CARE intervention helper with funding received as part of the Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy. Yet in 2024, there were only six CARE units across Ontario, according to the province's Children's Aid Society. Communities stepping up Many communities and municipalities have taken it upon themselves to increase awareness and prevent human trafficking. Earlier this year, Grassy Narrows First Nation set up a community checkpoint in response to human trafficking concerns among its members. The creation of the checkpoint followed a community notice from the First Nation's emergency response co-ordinator, Terry Fobister, that cited "recent incidents involving attempted abductions of our band members." Airports across northwestern Ontario have also stepped up to the plate to combat the crime. Last week, the municipality of Sioux Lookout announced that its airport had partnered with the anti-human trafficking advocacy organization #NotInMyCity, which was founded by Canadian country music artist Paul Brandt. The partnership is especially important, considering Sioux Lookout has the second busiest airport in northwestern Ontario, according to the town's mayor, Doug Lawrance. "People come here for health care, education and retail business, and some of those people will be vulnerable people," said Lawrance. "Human trafficking is something that's insidious, it's difficult to track down." Thunder Bay's airport partnered with the organization three years ago, according to Jackie MacDonald, the airport authority's director of business development and revenue management. "We collaboratively put together these signs that are throughout our terminal building," said MacDonald. "In partnership with [#NotInMyCity], they do have a training toolkit that we use online that has been given to all of our staff here at the airport as well." An ever-evolving fight As Canada's online landscape continues to evolve, so too does the effort to combat human trafficking. Social media platforms that entice children and youth, such as Instagram and Snapchat, have become particularly attractive for predators and traffickers. However, Wesley added that anyone in a vulnerable situation could fall victim to the crime, regardless of gender or age. "We're really trying to focus on the youth and children but at the same time, we don't want to lose our perspective and forget that this happens to everyone." Wesley adds that human trafficking isn't always for the purpose of sexual exploitation, but can also take form in labour trafficking, particularly when it comes to family debts. To better ensure that outreach organizations — such as the Kenora Coalition Against Human Trafficking and the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre — are able to address and prevent cases of human trafficking before it happens, Wesley said it is vital that organizations are up to date on the technology being employed by traffickers. "They're using different avenues, so I think we really need to keep ourselves educated and aware of how perpetrators are actually committing the crime and then adjust what we're doing," Wesley said.
