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Guy Turcotte, who was suffering from a bad separation, performed suicidal acts while he stabbed his five year old son 27 times and his three year old daughter 19 times as they slept in their bedrooms.

History

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Dr. Guy Turcotte, born in 1972 (currently 41 years old)    worked with his wife Isabelle Gaston at Hotel-Dieu de Saint-Jerome as a cardiologist. He met and fell in love with his wife Gaston in Québec City in 1999. They moved in together in 2000 but, their relationship became hostile to the point of hitting each other. Due to this incident, Turcotte moved out but reconciled shortly after promising to work on their relationship. The relationship improved so much so that Turcotte proposed to Gaston at Mount Washington, N.H. to which she accepted. He was a loving father and great with kids. Gilles Turcotte (Guy Turcotte’s brother) said he “was attentive to his children and nieces and nephews… When Guy is playing with the children, we can see he is having as much fun as them,"
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In mid-January of 2009 Just before Gaston and Turcotte were leaving for a Mexican trip with their children, Turcotte was informed that his wife was having an affair with their personal trainer and friend Huot's. Huot’s girlfriend, Patricia Giroux is the one who notified Turcotte of the affair and also provided proof by showing emails between Huot and Gaston. This angered him and felt betrayed. Although he couldn't bring himself to cancel the trip, they decided to separate. Two days after coming home from their trip, the respondent left the family residence. Gaston and the children stayed in the house and the parents agreed to share custody.

The build up

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During the separation, their conversations were often spiteful. On February 8, Turcotte found out that “the children had been to the Carnaval de Québec with their mother and Huot. The Carnaval had special meaning to him since he had lived in Quebec City for many years.” Turcotte testified that "A hammer to the head would have hurt less… I could not accept that Martin spent time with my children ... as if I was being replaced”. The next day, a former neighbor told him that the day he left, Huot had spent the night with his family and that he was staying there almost every night for the last two weeks. Turcotte said during his testimony that the information “made him flip”. On February 10, he went to his family's residence to fetch his son's sweater and found Huot in the kitchen to whom he said: "You stole my wife. You betrayed me, you were my friend". He then punched him in the face before leaving the house.

The trigger
On February 20, He drove by his old house and Gaston ordered him to leave and told him: "you are going to stop controlling my life ... now, if I want to, I can change the children's names... I can get custody, I can move anywhere in Quebec". He was then terrified of losing his children who, were all he had left. That day, while he was at work, colleagues noted "no outward signs" of distress. He had exchanged emails with Gaston and also picked up his children from the daycare and school. On his way, he telephoned Gaston and she told him that she had changed the locks on the house and that she had consulted a lawyer. He was deeply hurt as he took this as an “attack”. He replied that if she wanted war that she was going to get it. That night, Turcotte felt dejected and began to cry. He then proceeded to put his children to bed, he read dated emails from Gaston which further hurt and disheartened him. He wanted to end his life and went to search the Internet for ways to commit suicide.

The murders

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“On the morning of February 21, 2009, two police officers followed up on a call placed to 911 after the respondent had expressed his suicidal thoughts to his mother. When they entered the respondent's home, the officers discovered the inert bodies of two children, a boy and a girl.”  “Turcotte was under his bed, covered in vomit and blood. He told police he'd drunk windshield wiper fluid and wanted to die”.
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In his later testimony Turcotte recalled disordered scenes of the event: “He is standing in his son's room. He has a knife in his hands and stabs his son. His son cries out "no" and moves away. He realizes that he is hurting him. He panics and [translation] "stabs him more". He has a similar memory with respect to his daughter. He sees himself in the bathroom. He drinks windshield washer fluid. He has blood on his hands. He has hurt his children and looks for the knife to [translation] "stab himself in the heart", but cannot find it”.

Court Case
Turcotte portraed himself and Gaston as professionals dealing with the stress of raising children and dealing with life. He was charged with two counts of first degree murder for having caused the deaths of his two children. The trial began on April 12, 2011, and on July 5, the jury rendered a verdict of not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (adjustment disorder with anxiety and depressive moods). The prosecution appealed the verdict on grounds that the trial judge (the Honourable Mr. Justice Marc David, of the Superior Court, District of Terrebonne) has erred in law, mainly with respect to the issue of self-induced methanol intoxication in conjunction with a mental disorder.

Currently
Turcotte says he is better now (2012) than he was before the brutal stabbings in February 2009, he feels less shame, less guilt and has more self-esteem. And he is ready to be released. Testifying before a mental health review board to determine whether to keep Turcotte another year at the Pinel psychiatric institute or release him to the care of his family, Turcotte said he is not a danger to anyone. Pierre Poupart, Turcotte's lawyer, announced in 2014 that he wants to go to the Supreme Court in an attempt to challenge the appeals court ruling. Quebec Superior Court Justice Marc David who presided over the first trial postpone the date-setting until April 4 2014 and said any new trial won't take place before March 2015. He spent 46 months in psychiatric care before being deemed fit for release from a mental institution. Turcotte, meanwhile, remains behind bars.