Guy Turcotte trial hears that he admits to causing children's deaths

Guy Turcotte leaves the Saint Jerome courthouse on Sept. 14, 2015. (Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

SAINT-JEROME, Que. -- Jurors at Guy Turcotte's first-degree murder trial heard Thursday that he admitted to causing the deaths of his two children.

The former cardiologist is charged in the slayings of Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3, in a residence north of Montreal in February 2009.

The admission that Turcotte caused their deaths was read out to the jury two days after he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The trial also heard from Patrick Bigras, the police officer who eventually arrested Turcotte after discovering the bodies of Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3.

"It was upsetting, very upsetting," he testified in reference to that day's events.

Bigras smashed a window to get into the residence and climbed one floor where he saw blood on a door.

Then he discovered the children's blood-spattered bodies.

Bigras said the two were in their beds lying on their backs, wearing only underwear. Their stomachs and abdomens were covered in wounds.

Turcotte stood in the prisoner's box during that part of the testimony, looking downward with his eyes closed.

"The children were already stiff, pale and cold," Bigras testified. "The little boy's eyes were half-open."

Bigras took the children's pulse and quickly realized they were dead.

The officer then went looking for a suspect because he had heard noise coming from somewhere on the same floor when he entered the house.

He found Turcotte lying under his bed, vomit at the corners of his mouth.

Bigras testified that he called Turcotte an imbecile and that the accused answered, "Yes, I know."

Earlier on Thursday, jurors saw two knives that were found near where Olivier and Anne-Sophie were found.

The longer one -- at 32 centimetres -- was found underneath Olivier with blood on the blade. The other one was located on the side of a bathtub in a bathroom adjacent to Turcotte's bedroom.

The Crown has said it intends to prove that Olivier was stabbed 27 times and Anne-Sophie 19 times.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Andre Vincent has ordered that witnesses not be allowed in the courtroom before they testify. They will after they have taken the stand.

The Crown has said the children's mother, Isabelle Gaston, will testify early in the proceedings.

The trial resumes Monday.