The suspect in the Robert Pickton prison attack has a long criminal record

Article content

The man suspected of attacking British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton in a maximum security prison has a decades-long history of criminal activity.

No charges have yet been filed against 51-year-old Martin “Spike” Charest. Canada’s justice minister described it as “grievous bodily harm”, which left Pickton in a coma in hospital.

Article content

However, sources confirmed that the long-time prisoner is the suspect under investigation.

Article content

Pickton was brutally attacked at around 5:15 p.m. on May 19 in a special unit for vulnerable inmates at the Port-Cartier maximum security prison in Quebec.

During the surprise attack, a broken broomstick was stabbed into his head.

He was flown to a hospital in Quebec’s capital, 600 kilometers from the prison.

Correctional Service Canada has not released an update on his condition, but Postmedia has learned he remains in critical but stable condition.

Pickton, 74, is serving a life sentence after a jury found him guilty in 2007 of the murders of Georgina Papin, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe and Marnie Frey. The DNA of a total of 33 women was found on his Port Coquitlam farm. Pickton once boasted to an undercover officer that he had killed 49 women.

In 2022, Charest was serving his sentence at the Donnacona Institution, a maximum-security prison near Quebec City, when he was charged with more than a dozen counts of threatening to cause bodily harm or death to a person. On May 22, 2022, he pleaded guilty to all 13 counts and was sentenced to 36 months in prison.

Article content

Article content

In 2014, Charest was sentenced to 48 months in prison for making threats while serving his sentence in Port-Cartier.

He was in Port-Cartier at the time because he pleaded guilty to three counts of armed robbery in 2007 and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The motive for his attack on Pickton is unknown, but a source told Postmedia that Pickton was targeted because of the brutality of his crimes against women.

Catherine Latimer, executive director of the John Howard Society, said there must be an independent investigation into how the attacker gained access to Pickton in the secure wing.

If Charest had attacked other inmates in the past, “why house him with someone who would be particularly vulnerable to assault because of the charges and convictions he had?” asked Latimer.

She noted that Federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Tuesday there would be an internal investigation into the attack.

“But I think, given the information that was released last week by the corrections investigator that prison violence was increasing across the board, there really should be … a more comprehensive, independent investigation into prison violence,” Latimer said. “Internal investigations don’t really have the credibility that one would hope for.”

Article content

Last week, the Globe and Mail reported on data it obtained through a freedom of information request showing an escalation of violence in federal prisons.

Latimer said the violence is worse in some maximum security prisons, where “a different code applies,” meaning any inmate who didn’t shoot an inmate like Pickton “could become a victim.”

The CSC needs to “protect people even if they don’t show much compassion,” Latimer said.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know – bookmark VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

Article content