Convicted BC serial killer Robert Pickton was savagely attacked with the broken end of a broom handle by another inmate in a Quebec prison.This is the second time a notorious criminal was attacked in prison with a broken broomstick. Cannibal and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered with a broomstick in 1994 in the US. Pickton, who is 74 years old and was deemed eligible for day parole in February, is in critical condition and on life support after he was impaled in the head with the jagged wooden spear at the maximum security Port-Cartier Institution at approximately 2 p.m. local time Sunday.After prison officials learned of the assault Pickton was airlifted to Hospital of the Child Jesus in Quebec City.Pickton, who in 2007 was convicted of murdering six of 27 women found dead at a pig farm he lived at with his brother, had reportedly told other inmates he was writing a book to tell his side of the story when it comes to the murders; he said he was revealing the real killer in his expose.Charges related to the remains found of the 21 other women were stayed.The Vancouver Sun which reported Pickton’s assailant had committed prior assaults on other inmates and was eventually moved to segregation; he was then released into Pickton’s unit, and brutally assaulted him. The Correctional Service Canada said in a news release “the Sûreté du Québec is presently investigating the incident.”“The assailant has been identified and the appropriate actions have been taken,” said the release. The federal agency confirmed to Postmedia late Monday Pickton suffered a “major assault” but did not comment on Pickton’s latest medical condition, nor did officials at the Port-Cartier Institution comment on his condition. Pickton’s lawyer Ian Runkle refused to comment either. “I don’t have anything I can say at this point. That may change, but nothing I can pass along at this point,” he said. Admissions officials said the hospital had “nothing to share at this time due to confidentiality.”Former Vancouver lead police detective Lorimer Shenher did comment on the attack over the weekend. “Obviously, Mr. Pickton has caused a lot of pain for many people. Unfortunately, all an attack like this serves to do is further thwart the truth of this case from being told so that all the remaining perpetrators could be brought to justice,” said Shenher to the Sun. “It’s been an open secret for more than 20 years that these murders were not committed solely by the hands of Robert Pickton.”According to the RCMP, evidence surrounding the Pickton farm murders is no longer worth investigating and will return approximately 14,000 articles found on the property to the families of the dead women. A 1994 New York Times article reported Dahmer was “bludgeoned” to death by a broken broom handle. “A bloody broom handle was found near Mr. Dahmer, who died of skull fractures and brain trauma,” wrote the Times, elaborating investigators had said Dahmer's head might also “have been beaten against a wall or the floor.”
