Guy Turcotte, who was convicted of stabbing his two young children to death in 2009, has been denied from leaving prison for temporary absences.
The Parole Board of Canada rendered its decision Tuesday.
Turcotte, a former Quebec cardiologist, had requested Escorted temporary absences (ETA) under the supervision of a correctional officer to visit his parents for a maximum of seven hours at a time.
The parole board denied the request at Tuesday’s hearing, telling Turcotte, 54, that temporary absences were not a desirable outcome at this stage of his sentence.
The board said that his living victims continue to suffer from his crimes and their suffering must still carry “real weight” when assessing his request.
“In the specific case of the exceptionally serious double offence, it cannot be emphasized enough that the consequences are still deeply felt by the victims today,” said parole board member Jacqueline Schoepferboard.
There is a difference, she explained, between acknowledging that Turcotte has made progress toward his rehabilitation and accepting responsibility for his crimes and concluding that his progress warrants permission to leave prison. Similarly, there is also a difference between acknowledging that forming familial bonds with his parents and concluding that a release would be desirable.
“Once again, this does not constitute a failure to recognize the progress made. However, given the exceptional gravity of the crimes you committed in the context of a romantic breakup—their irreversible nature and the particularly significant and persistent consequences for the victims—the commission concludes that the desirability of this first step toward expansion has not yet been sufficiently established,” Schoepferboard said.
At the end of his second trial, Turcotte was sentenced in 2015 to life imprisonment without the chance of parole for 17 years after being convicted of second-degree murder for stabbing his two children to death following his separation from his wife.
The board was told that if the absences from prison would be granted, they would be for a limited time and that he would be accompanied by a correctional officer. Turcotte would also be prohibited from contacting his ex-wife, Isabelle Gaston, and from visiting several areas of the Greater Montreal area, except for travel on major highways.
In denying his request, the parole board said Tuesday that his social rehabilitation must proceed at a pace that takes into account all of the interests, including those of his victims.
“This is not a denial of your efforts,” the board added.
Ex-wife talks addresses hearing
Speaking to the media after the decision was rendered, Gaston said she felt that it was her duty as a mother to attend the hearing to give her children a voice. She said she was satisfied with the parole board’s decision.
“You did not steal tires, you know, you killed two children that were your kids. So you have to understand why you did that,” she said.
Gaston said she would not be opposed to him being released in the future once she feels he has completed his rehabilitation.
“People will find that I’m bizarre, but I really think that we have to have hope and he’s allowed to have hope also,” she said, adding that she doesn’t think she will ever be able to forgive him for what he did.
Before the decision was granted, Gaston addressed the board at the beginning of the hearing on Tuesday, describing how the deaths of her two kids has affected her life nearly 20 years later and that she has not fully recovered from the tragedy.
“A good part of who I was also died that day,” she said in her statement, as Turcotte wiped tears from his eyes.
“I live in a constant state of alert and hyper vigilance,” Gaston said, adding that she can only learn how to survive “the unthinkable.”
She also said that Turcotte was not a man without the means to seek help for his problems.
Turcotte offers tearful apology
Turcotte spoke for the first time since being sent to prison for the two murders. Appearing at the hearing with a shaved head and a blue t-shirt, he told the parole board that in the 24 hours before he killed his kids, he was in a state of emotional distress that he didn’t know how to manage and was “overwhelmed” by anger.
“I was in suicidal crisis. I’m already dead, the step has already been taken,” he said. “The intensity of the symptoms were so severe that evening that my children were not enough to bring me back.”
He said that even though he was a doctor and had the means to seek help for his mental health, he said people often forget that doctors are humans, too, and that he lacked introspection to deal with his emotions.
During his incarceration, he spent “long sessions” with a psychologist. He said he has since learned how to recognize and express his emotions.
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His testimony ended with an apology.
“I apologize for all the suffering I’ve done, that I caused. I’m deeply sorry about that,” he said through tears. “I don’t know what else to say.”
