Notorious serial killer Robert Pickton's alleged murderer has appeared in the Sept-Îles courthouse Quebec. Pickton was slain on May 19 2024 when the 74-year-old was stabbed in the head, allegedly by a fellow inmate, Martin Charest, at the maximum security prison known as Port-Cartier Institution. Charest was convicted in 2007 of three counts of armed robbery and sentenced to an eight-year prison term. However, in 2014 and 2022, he was sentenced to separate prison terms, both for uttering threats to cause bodily harm. Pickton was then sent to hospital, dying of his injuries days later.Judge Vicky Lapierre has ordered the case to return on September 2..Pickton was charged in 2007 with six counts of second-degree murder, although he confessed to killing 49 women to an undercover cop in his jail cell.Pickton was first arrested in 2002, charged with two counts of murder.This would eventually change to a total of 26 murder charges. However, he was convicted of only six, ending up with a sentence of life in prison. Pickton's farm was located near Port Coquitlam, close to Vancouver. In 1996, Pickton and his brother began a federally registered charity called Piggy's Palace Good Times Society, which they had a mandate to hold fundraisers through events..Neighbors would complain of rowdiness, drunkenness, and noise at the farm — and parties were attended by up to 1,700 people, including sex workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.The Downtown Eastside is infamous for its high rates of poverty, homelessness, prostitution and open drug use. A stat reported by the Canadian Encyclopedia says in the 1990s, 80% of women and girls working as sex workers were from outside of Vancouver and had had no contact with their families for years.These were the targets of Pickton's murders. Pickton would often visit this area to dispose of his animal-part waste. He would drive through the ten-block area, and offer women drugs and money — taking them back to his farm. Initially after Pickton's death in 2024, BC Premier David Eby made a statement..“Robert Pickton preyed on the most vulnerable people in our society. These women were cast aside as less than equal, and less than worthy because of who they were," he said.“Good riddance,” he concluded.
