A jury has found a man who used a sword to kill and maim victims in Quebec City’s historic district on Halloween night 2020 guilty of murder.
Carl Girouard, 26, was convicted Friday of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of François Duchesne, 56, and Suzanne Clermont, 61, and five counts of attempted murder.
Girouard had admitted to the acts, but his defence lawyer argued his client was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder and could not tell right from wrong. The Crown countered that the killings were premeditated and that Girouard was aware of his actions that night.
The 11-member jury delivered its verdicts on its fifth day of deliberations.
According to the Crown’s case, Girouard drove from his home north of Montreal with a Japanese-style sword called a katana that had a 76.9-centimetre blade. He wore black jogging pants, black leather boots, a short-sleeved kimono and a black mask. After arriving in Quebec City, he drove around before finally parking in front of the Château Frontenac hotel, in the city’s historic quarter.
Girouard testified in his defence and said his original plan was to attack people inside the hotel. He told jurors that he found the doors of the hotel locked, so he turned his attention to people on the street.
The accused told the trial that by age 18, he had hatched a mission that involved killing people with a sword, creating chaos, changing the world and encouraging like-minded people—whom he called his “alter-egos”— to continue his mission after his death.
Girouard testified that inside his head there were two competing versions of himself, including a “bad'' version who was mission-focused but had ceased to exist after the Halloween attacks.
He told the court that upon arriving in Quebec City from his home in Ste-Thérèse, Que., he was fearful and struggled with continuing his mission. But ultimately, “bad Carl” took over, he said, describing the attacks as “a duty.”
The accused said he wasn’t hallucinating and remembered most things about the night of the killings. After he killed Clermont, he began to question the “mission” and decided ultimately to put an end to it.
“I thought I would have a feeling of accomplishment, but that wasn’t the case,'‘ he said. ”I decided there shouldn’t be one more death, my own or anyone else.’’
The case hinged on expert testimony from psychiatrists who presented conflicting conclusions about Girouard’s criminal responsibility.
Dr. Gilles Chamberland, a psychiatrist testifying for the defence concluded that Girouard was on the autism spectrum, suffered from schizophrenia and was delirious and in a state of psychosis the night of the killings, unable to distinguish right from wrong.
Chamberland said the symptoms were present from early in his childhood and that the accused retreated into a world of violent video games. The situation got worse as the pandemic hit, and Girouard played video games night and day.
The prosecution argued the acts were premeditated, noting Girouard had spoken to mental health workers since his late teenage years about attacking people with a sword.
The Crown’s primary expert, psychiatrist Dr. Sylvain Faucher, told jurors the accused suffered from a personality disorder and was on a “narcissistic quest” to express his resentment toward society, concluding that there were no signs of delusional thinking and that Girouard knew right from wrong.
Faucher said the killer was pursuing a “malicious fantasy'' inspired by his imagination and the violent video games he played. His ultimate goal, Faucher said, was to gain notoriety.
Another expert for the Crown, neuropsychologist Dr. William Pothier, said Girouard’s hesitation before the attacks is not typical of patients who are delirious. Those kinds of patients, Pothier said, usually don’t doubt themselves.
Faucher said it was highly unlikely the accused was suffering from schizophrenia, citing numerous factors, including the absence of symptoms at a younger age, which typically precede the disease. He also found it unlikely that “bad Carl” simply vanished without Girouard taking any medication.
Prosecutor François Godin raised the issue during closing arguments.
“Do you believe that Carl Girouard, who is obsessed by this mission for six years, will execute the mission, exit his psychosis with a snap of his fingers and never again think of the mission—never again speak of the mission that obsessed him for six years, and this, without any antipsychotic medication?'' Godin asked.
Once the jury ruled out a verdict of not criminally responsible, they had to decide whether Girouard was guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter. First-degree murder is a homicide that is planned and deliberate. Because Girouard admitted to the attacks, acquittal was not an option.
The case will return to court for sentencing on June 10.
