Robert Pickton reportedly on life support following prison attack

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A few months after he made headlines for becoming eligible for day parole, notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton is on life support after being attacked by another prisoner in Quebec’s maximum Port-Cartier Institution.

Pickton was reportedly speared in the head with a broken broom-like handle and airlifted to hospital after the assault on Sunday, May 19, reports Vancouver Sun.

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In a statement to Postmedia, Correctional Service Canada said that Pickton was the victim of a “major assault” but did not comment on his medical condition.

The 74-year-old was convicted for the murders of six women in December 2007, receiving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

What is his current health status?

Little is currently known about his condition.

“I don’t have anything I can say at this point,” Pickton’s lawyer Ian Runkle said Monday, when asked if his client was hospitalized with a serious brain injury. “ That may change, but nothing I can pass along at this point,” added Runkle.

In its statement, Correctional Service Canada said the “assailant has been identified and the appropriate actions have been taken.”

Sources said Pickton had been taken to Hospital of the Child Jesus in Quebec City, which is about 600 kilometres from the prison he was being housed at, Port-Cartier Institution.

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What was Pickton charged with?

Pickton was convicted by a jury of murdering six women — Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey — at his 2007 B.C. Supreme Court trial.

He was also charged in connection with 20 other murders, with DNA evidence linking additional missing women to his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C., but the charges were stayed because Pickton was already serving the maximum sentence.

He has been linked to possibly murdering up to 49 women and feeding their remains to his pigs.

When did he become eligible for day parole?

Pickton became eligible for day parole in February, leading to widespread outrage and a vigil at the site of the former pig farm.

Michele Pineault, whose daughter Stephanie Lane’s DNA was found on the Pickton farm, told CTV in February that Pitckton “should not walk on this earth.”

“He doesn’t deserve to take one step out of where he is. He needs to stay where he is until he dies,” she said.

“Today, one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, Robert Pickton, has become eligible for parole,” Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, posted on X.

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“Monsters like this should never be released from prison,” he added. “Common sense Conservatives believe that mass murderers should face consecutive sentences so they only come out of jail in a box.”

Pickton will be eligible for a full parole beginning in 2027, 25 years after his original arrest date on Feb. 22, 2002.

Could parole be granted?

Despite Pickton’s eligibility for day parole, legal experts emphasize that securing it will be unlikely due to the severity of his crimes.

“I don’t think they’re going to make a decision very lightly, and certainly not without considering the very deep impact that this crime or these crimes have had on the community and victims’ families,” Sarah Leamon, a criminal lawyer in Vancouver, told CTV.

In a statement, B.C. Solicitor General Mike Farnworth emphasized that authorities would make every effort to involve families in any decisions related to Pickton’s parole applications.

“We know that this is an incredibly sensitive issue for the families,” he said. “We want to make sure that everything is done properly and that their concerns need to be taken into account on any decision that’s made on this.”

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