SAINT-JEROME, Que. — An emergency technician has testified that Guy Turcotte told hospital officials a day after his children were stabbed to death that he wanted to die and that what he had done was terrible.
Marie-Pierre Chartrand says Turcotte arrived at the hospital a day after his children were killed in February 2009.
Chartrand told Turcotte's first-degree murder trial this morning that he asked to not be treated and to be allowed to die. The decision was made to treat him because she thought he was suicidal.
Turcotte, 43, is facing two counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3.
The former cardiologist has pleaded not guilty but has admitted to causing the children's deaths.
Chartrand, who knew Turcotte because he worked at the same hospital in Saint-Jerome, says he was lucid although she had the impression he may have been slightly intoxicated.
"There was clear psychological distress," Chartrand said. "He was crying a lot and talking a lot."
On Monday, pathologist Andre Bourgault testified that Anne-Sophie's heart was pierced, while Olivier's hands had wounds.
"He tried to defend himself between four and seven times," said Bourgault, who has conducted more than 4,000 autopsies in his career.
He said Olivier was stabbed 27 times and Anne-Sophie 19 times. They had wounds to the stomach, the thorax and on their back.
Turcotte's trial will be curtailed this week as one juror has a medical appointment and another has to attend a wake and a funeral for a relative who passed away on the weekend.
It will sit all day on Tuesday as well as Wednesday morning.
