Man who killed 2 people with sword in Quebec City on Halloween 2020 granted new trial

Julien Fortin, centre, son of Suzanne Clermont who was stabbed to death on Halloween night by a man with a sword, is in tears in front of the memorial to his mother, Monday, November 2, 2020 in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

Quebec’s Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of killing two people and injuring five others with a sword on Halloween night in Quebec City in 2020.

A jury had found Carl Girouard guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder in 2022, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

But the Court of Appeal says the trial judge failed to properly tell jurors that they could not determine Girouard’s innocence or guilt based on the fact he stayed silent during his police interrogation.

Girouard had admitted to the crimes, but his lawyer Pierre Gagnon had argued his client was not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.

In his appeal, Gagnon argued that the Crown tried to use Girouard’s silence during his interrogation to establish that the accused was aware of what was happening and ultimately had control over himself.

A panel of three Court of Appeal judges agreed, saying the failure of the trial judge to properly instruct jurors was grounds for a new trial. 

The justices said Grenier should have provided the 11 jurors with “a specific instruction stating that no inference of guilt could be drawn from the appellant’s exercise of his right to remain silent.”

Girouard killed Francois Duchesne, 56, a museum employee, and Suzanne Clermont, 61, a hairdresser, and injured five others in the Halloween night attack.

The trial heard Girouard drove from his home north of Montreal with a Japanese-style sword called a katana, which had a 76.9-centimetre blade.

Wearing black jogging pants, black leather boots, a short-sleeved kimono and a black mask, Girouard proceeded to attack people he came across on the street, starting in front of Le Chateau Frontenac hotel, in the city’s historic quarter.

The Crown had argued the attacks were premeditated and Girouard knew right from wrong. The jury had ultimately agreed, determining he had intention to kill.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 31, 2026.