Guy Turcotte, a Quebec man serving a life sentence for stabbing his two children to death, was denied supervised outings from prison on Tuesday.
According to Radio-Canada, the Parole Board of Canada believes Turcotte has yet to accept full responsibility for his actions.
Board members who heard Turcotte’s testimony acknowledged some progress made by the former cardiologist, but said that the seriousness of the crime, which was committed shortly after his separation from his children’s mother, make his release at this stage of the sentence not advisable.
Turcotte was found guilty in 2015 of second-degree murder after stabbing his five-year-old son Olivier and his three-year-old daughter Anne-Sophie dozens of times in 2009.
The now 54-year-old was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 17 years. He will be eligible for parole in 2028.
Guy Turcotte, who killed his 2 children, requesting temporary absence from prison
Turcotte’s ex-wife, Isabelle Gaston, wrote in a social media post before the hearing Tuesday that she hoped it would be “rigorous, prudent, and worthy of what Olivier and Anne-Sophie deserve.”
Turcotte was originally found not criminally responsible for the killings in 2011, but that verdict was overturned on appeal.
A spokesperson for the Parole Board of Canada says decisions on escorted temporary absence requests are not published, but may be delivered orally at the end of the hearing.
