An inmate who has pleaded guilty to murdering Robert Pickton in prison last year says he did it for the serial killer’s victims.
Martin Charest admitted on Thursday morning to fatally assaulting Pickton with a broken broom handle at the Port-Cartier federal penitentiary in May 2024.
Charest pleaded guilty to first-degree murder during a court appearance in Sept-Îles, Que., northeast of Quebec City.
Pickton was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder, but confessed to killing a total of 49 women whom he lured to his pig farm near Vancouver.
WATCH | Pickton dies after fatal prison assault: 
Serial killer Robert Pickton is dead
Robert Pickton had been in hospital since May 19 after being the target of what Correctional Service Canada called a “major assault” at the maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec. The 74-year-old B.C. man had been found guilty of murdering six women in the Vancouver area, but had bragged about killing 49.
A statement of facts read out in court detailed how Charest locked himself into a room with Pickton and assaulted him twice while guards were unable to enter.
Charest told the judge he murdered Pickton after the serial killer had continued to brag about the murders and told other inmates he’d commit more crimes if he was ever released.