The inmate accused of killing B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton in a Quebec prison has pleaded guilty to the charge of first-degree murder.
Martin Charest entered the plea on Thursday (Sept. 25), multiple media outlets reported. He reportedly told the court he killed Pickton for the victims.
Charest was charged with first-degree murder in July, according to a warrant for his arrest dated July 3, 2025.
He was first named as the accused in Pickton's death in a 2025 independent observer's report into the death of Pickton. The report, which is partially redacted, said Charest "violently assaulted" Pickton in the common room at the maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec, "thrusting a broken broomstick into his face."
Pickton, 74, died in hospital May 31, 2024, days after he was assaulted on May 19, 2024.
Pickton who was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of six women in B.C. had received "extensive media coverage across the country and around the world," the report details. He'd been incarcerated at the Port-Cartier Institution since 2018 and his security level had been maintained at maximum since his intake assessment in 2008.
On May 19, 2024, at 5:16 p.m., medication was being distributed in the unit and Pickton was assaulted.
The report says that when the assault started, the correctional officer assigned to control the post requested the help of other officers, "who quickly intervened and were able to convince the aggressor to stop the assault."
Two minutes later, according to the case summary, "the aggressor then grabbed a broomstick, broke the handle, and thrust it into the face of Mr. Pickton." Corrections officers again intervened and managed to handcuff the other inmate and escort him to the "structured intervention unit."
Pickton was then taken by ambulance, under escort, to the Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Sept-Îles around 5:57 p.m. He was determined to be in critical condition and then taken by air ambulance to the Hôpital Enfant-Jésus in Québec City the next day where he was admitted to intensive care.
He died 12 days later on May 31, 2024.
