A Canadian serial killer who brought victims to his pig farm is hospitalized after a prison attack

MONTREAL – Convicted Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, who brought female victims to his pig farm during a crime spree near Vancouver in the 1990s and early 2000s, was attacked in prison and hospitalized in life-threatening condition, authorities said Tuesday.

A 51-year-old inmate is being held in a Quebec prison for Sunday's attack, police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said.

Pickton, 74, was found guilty of six counts of first-degree murder in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison with a maximum parole period of 25 years after being charged with the murder of 26 women.

More than 22 years ago, police began searching the Pickton farm in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam. The investigation into the disappearance of dozens of women would take several years.

The remains or DNA of 33 women, many from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, were found on Pickton's pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. He once boasted to an undercover agent that he had killed a total of 49 women.

Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister Georgina Papin was killed by Pickton, said she was “overwhelmed” with happiness when she received a text message Monday saying he had been attacked. She called it “karma.”

The text came from a cousin of Tanya Holyk, another missing woman whose DNA was found on Pickton's pig farm.

“I don't think anyone that evil should be allowed to walk the earth, as far as I'm concerned,” Cardinal said Tuesday. “I have tears of joy. Very big tears of joy.”

Federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he was informed of the attack late Sunday and his thoughts immediately went to the families of Pickton's victims in British Columbia.

LeBlanc called Pickton “one of the most dangerous criminals in the country,” but said he could not provide further details about the incident or Pickton's condition due to privacy laws.

Vancouver police have been criticized for not taking the cases seriously because many of the missing people were sex workers or drug users.

Canada's Correctional Service announced for the first time on Monday that an inmate had been hospitalized following a serious attack at the maximum security prison in Port-Cartier, about 480 kilometers northeast of Quebec City.

On Tuesday, the Corrections Service confirmed that Pickton was the inmate injured in Sunday's attack. It said none of its staff were involved in the attack.

Quebec provincial police said the convicted murderer's injuries were life-threatening.

Pickton's confirmed victims were six: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Papin and Marnie Frey.

When Pickton's sentence was announced, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice James Williams said it was a “rare case that justifies the maximum period of parole available to the court.”