A public inquest into the events surrounding the 2020 killing of two young Quebec girls by their father begins today. Quebec Provincial Police investigators discuss in a driveway at a house after police announced that they believe they have found the body of Martin Carpentier, in Saint-Apollinaire, Que., Monday, July 20, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
QUEBEC – The mother of two Quebec girls killed by their father in July 2020 told a coroner’s inquest today that she still has no explanation for why Martin Carpentier committed the irreparable acts.
Amélie Lemieux says she always thought that Carpentier – who killed himself after murdering sisters Romy, 6, and Norah, 11 – was the last person who could have carried out such heinous crimes.
Lemieux told deputy chief coroner Luc Malouin during the Quebec City inquest that when she would hear on the news about parents killing their children, she had always felt lucky her girls had a good father.
Police concluded that Carpentier killed the girls in the woods near St-Apollinaire, Que., southwest of Quebec City, before taking his own life.
But questions have swirled around the investigation and whether the tragedy could have been averted.
Quebec’s public security minister ordered the inquest last year after Radio-Canada reported about alleged police errors during the investigation and presented new evidence that had not been part of a coroner’s report into the girls’ deaths.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2023.
