“The mission was paramount,” Carl Girouard told the jury. “It had to be completed at all costs. It was not a wish; it was a duty.” The 26-year-old admitted to carrying out the Halloween night raids that left two dead and five injured, but says he can not be held criminally responsible for his actions because he was mentally unstable at the time. Wearing a white shirt and tying on his ankles and wrists, Zirouar took the step in the morning, shortly after his mother’s testimony. During the cross-examination, the defendant admitted that he had realized that his plan was illegal as early as 2015, when he confessed to his former social worker that he wanted to modify it because he was afraid of going to jail. Zirouar also confirmed that he understood that attacking someone with a sword could harm them, referring to something he had said to another former adviser in 2014. But for him at the time, “the pain he causes people – it’s not pain, it’s necessary,” he testified. He said he felt controlled by the mission he had. “To do evil was to do good, that was for me.” Monique Dalphond, Carl Girouard’s mother, cried several times as she testified and then heard her son tell his story in court on Wednesday. (Illustration by Hbé)
Zirouar’s mother cried as her son described the attacks. The jury heard as he testified that he felt frightened and hesitant the moments before the attacks, but continued to do so because he felt compelled. He said he had to force himself to feel angry to act, but the anger really only started when he failed to kill his first victim, Rémy Bélanger. “Because I failed in what I had to achieve [in doing]He said, thinking at that moment. He said this prompted him to kill François Duchamp, his second victim. Zirouar said he began to understand what he had done and regretted his actions after he killed Susan Clermont and then attacked a group of young men. While hiding from the police, he told jurors that he repeatedly wondered why he did it. “What was the logic of doing this?” he remembered thinking, “but it was already too late.” Carl Zirouar parked his car in front of the iconic Château Frontenac in Quebec City before attacking seven people. Its route is shown on the map above. (Kristy Rich / CBC)
Zirouar said his life before the attacks was a life where he kept his distance from others, rarely staying in the same job for long, without dating. “I needed to kill people in my mission and the idea of ​​it [made it] “It’s uncomfortable for me to get close to people.” He felt torn between two personalities – “two Carl in his head” – one real and one on a mission. His idea for an alternative reality began in high school when he was about 15 years old and he started playing video games involving violence, battles, swords and medieval environments, he said.

Message for “alter egos”

This image of Carl Girouard’s bedroom, taken by Quebec Police on November 1, 2020, shows the so-called “symbol of chaos” that Girouard drew in his mirror on the day of the attacks and a sword he placed on his mattress. . (Picture of Quebec)
The young man, who is from Sainte-Thérèse, Que., Near Montreal, said he did not like the modern world, that there were too many cars, that people did not say hello to each other and everyone was forced to get dressed. . He wanted to create chaos to change the world and to inspire what he called his “alter egos” – people with similar goals in similar “secret missions” – to follow his example. That’s why he chose Halloween 2020, a night with a full moon and old Quebec, he said. He felt that the setting was right to send a message. Zirouar said he initially had some parts in mind, but that he was interested in the historic district of Quebec City because it reminded him of his video games with statues and older buildings.

Behavioral problems from childhood

The defense showed jurors a violent plan made by Carl Girouard for his dad’s new partner when he was about 11 years old. (Emilie Warren / CBC News)
The first witness for the defense was Girouard’s mother, Monique Dalphond, who told the court that her son had behavioral and mental problems since childhood. He started behaving inappropriately from kindergarten, he said, when he got into trouble because he was chasing older girls at school and trying to kiss them. He was antisocial and had no friends or hobbies throughout his youth, he said, and preferred to play video games such as Call of Duty: Warzone. She said her son became interested in swords and samurai costumes in 2014 when he turned 18 and was able to get a credit card to buy them. “She said it was a collection,” the mother said. He testified that he constantly upgraded his swords. “I was definitely worried, but it’s his only interest,” he said, explaining that he did not try to stop it because he seemed happy. By 2016, he was even more worried. “I noticed something very disturbing: Carl was talking alone in his shower and laughing alone,” he said. But when she asked him who he was talking to, he was silent. Dalphond, who has not worked since the attacks, said her son left in 2019. Carl Girouard’s lawyer, Pierre Gagnon, will bring in an expert to testify about his client’s mental capacity. (Radio-Canada)
In the coming days, Girouard’s lawyer, Pierre Gagnon, will also bring a psychiatrist and security guard to the detention center where his client is being held, in order to convince the court that Girouard can not be held criminally responsible for the attacks. Defense is based on Article 16 of the Canadian Penal Code, which provides that a person may be held criminally liable for a crime he or she has committed if he or she has a mental disorder that prevents him or her from understanding the nature of their actions or that what he did was wrong. Crown prosecutor François Godin is expected to bring in a neuropsychologist and psychiatrist in response to the defense’s evidence to prove that Jiroure was reasonable and understood what he was doing.