Convict charged for harassing girlfriend

MONTREAL • Michel Cadotte, who suffocated his wife three years ago because he could no longer watch her suffer through the late stages of Alzheimer's disease, faces a new criminal charge while he serves his sentence for manslaughter.

Cadotte, 59, is alleged to have harassed Isabel Petit, a woman who supported him after he was convicted in the case in which he was charged with killing his wife, Jocelyne Lizotte, in 2017.

During his trial, Cadotte admitted he placed a pillow over Lizotte's face and suffocated her, while she was at a long-term care residence, because he had difficulty seeing that she was unable to help herself at all. He was turned down in a request to let Lizotte have a medically assisted death months before he killed her.

A jury found him guilty of manslaughter on Feb. 23, 2019. Three months later, he received a sentence that left him with a prison term of two years less one day. When Cadotte began serving the sentence, Petit told reporters she had started a relationship with him because she sympathized with him. She said she could relate to Cadotte because she watched her husband suffer for a long time before he died from cancer and Alzheimer's.

According to a written summary of a parole decision in October 2019 by the Commission québécoise des libérations conditionnelles (CQLC), the relationship went from friendly to amorous while Cadotte was behind bars. It was part of the reason why Cadotte was denied parole late last year. The CQLC was ready to grant Cadotte day parole, but he insisted on being granted full parole, which would allow him to live with Petit, consult a psychologist, do community work and find a job.

Cadotte now faces a charge, filed on Oct. 22 at the Montreal courthouse, alleging he harassed Petit “in a repeated fashion” by phone, between Aug. 12 and Sept. 22.