‘I did it for the victims’: Robert Pickton’s killer tells court during guilty plea

The lawyer for Martin Charest says he’ll enter a guilty plea after being charged with first degree murder in the death of serial killer Robert Pickton.

MONTREAL — An inmate who has pleaded guilty to murdering Robert Pickton in prison last year says he did it for the serial killer’s victims.

Martin Charest admitted today to fatally assaulting Pickton with a broken broom handle at the Port-Cartier federal penitentiary in May 2024.

Charest pleaded guilty to first-degree murder during a court appearance in Sept-Iles, Que., northeast of Quebec City.

Pickton was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder, but confessed to killing a total of 49 women whom he lured to his pig farm near Vancouver.

A statement of facts read out in court detailed how Charest locked himself into a room with Pickton and assaulted him twice while guards were unable to enter.

Charest told the judge he murdered Pickton after the serial killer had continued to brag about the murders and told other inmates he’d commit more crimes if he was ever released.

This report by the Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2025.

The Canadian Press