Survivors describe Quebec City sword attacker's demeanor as calm, confident

Warning: The following story includes description of physical violence

Calm, determined, wearing black clothes and holding a sword — that's how some of the surviving victims of the Quebec City sword attack described their assailant on the night of Halloween 2020, in testimony Tuesday morning.

The jury watched in silence, listening attentively to witnesses who recalled the horrors they saw — or survived — that night. The crowded Quebec City courtroom was hushed on the third day of Carl Girouard's trial, which was temporarily suspended last Wednesday due to COVID-19.

The jury has to determine whether or not Girouard, 26 is criminally responsible for the attacks he carried out on seven people. Girouard admits to carrying out the attacks, but his lawyer, Pierre Gagnon, argues he had mental disorders at the time. The Crown argues that he was perfectly sane and aware of his actions.

The first victim, musician Rémy Bélanger, said he was listening to a podcast and taking a picture of the Château Frontenac hotel in Quebec City when he saw a man in black with a sword walking toward him and lifting the weapon, ready to attack. He figured it was a Halloween prank.

"I thought it was a joke, I thought he had come to bug me," he said.

Bélanger said he was first hit in the head. He recalled falling, receiving slashes on his back and his hand, and then picking up one of his fingers that had been severed.

He managed to run away from his attacker, bleeding heavily, and eventually made it to the Château Frontenac. There, staff thought at first it was a Halloween prank but soon helped him and called for an ambulance.

Bélanger suffered several wounds to his skull, neck, chest, arms and hip. 

The cellist was transferred to a hospital in Montreal that specializes in limb replantation in the hours following the attacks, where doctors worked hard to save his hand so he could play music again.

A witness of the first two attacks, whose name is protected by a publication ban, told the jury he first thought he was watching a prank. 

But the 17-year-old, who was sitting near a fountain, said he ran away with his friend when he realized Bélanger had actually been injured.

Watching from Dufferin Terrace, the teenagers said they saw Girouard run toward a second man, François Duchesne, and strike him. 

The witness said he heard Duchesne exclaim "Oh come on" before falling to the ground. He said Girouard then ran him through with a sword. The 56-year-old man died of his injuries that night.