Chelsea killer mom dies in hospital

The Chelsea mother who killed her seven-year-old daughter used her few minutes of privacy in prison to end her life.

Kathrine Dufresne, 53, died in Hull hospital around 9 p.m. Wednesday after hanging herself in the Hull Detention Centre at 11 that morning.

“Mrs. Dufresne was under visual (monitoring) almost full-time. There was a short moment to take a shower that she took advantage of,” said the president of the Quebec prison guards’ union, Stephane Lemaire. “The guard had a bad feeling, she broke down the door and went in the shower and saw the woman had hanged herself.”

On Oct. 22, Dufresne’s husband, Murray Fitzpatrick, returned to the family’s Chelsea home after a business trip to find his daughter, Sophie, strangled and his wife injured.

Quebec police sources at the time told QMI Agency it was a botched murder-suicide. A letter found by police outlined the circumstances, according to sources.

Dufresne was awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges.

“This is at least the second (suicide attempt),” said her lawyer, Wayne Lora.

Earlier this week, a Quebec judge found Dufresne fit to stand trial.

“I wasn’t very happy (about that),” said Lora.

He believes his client suffered from some sort of mental illness or condition.

“It was 10 minutes of insanity when she killed her daughter,” he said. “If you think it takes someone to be mentally ill to try to commit suicide it would be proved.”

He was planning a second psychiatric assessment.

“I had hired probably one of the best psychiatrists in the area,” he said. “We were just trying to get things into motion.”

As Dufresne awaited trial, Lora said, she wasn’t on suicide watch, although she was supposed to be checked on often to see if she was depressed, and if so, taken to hospital.

Lora said her death isn’t a result of a lapse in jail protocol.

“If someone is going to commit suicide they’re going to do it — you can tie them down and they’re still going to find some way of doing it,” he said. “Maybe this was the best thing for (Dufresne).”

Lora said Dufresne was an intelligent woman who knew what she wanted.

“And I think she took the measures to assure herself of that,” he said. “She had tried to kill herself before in a very serious way — it’s just truly accidental that she survived.”

According to Lora, Dufresne was “functioning fairly well in other aspects.”

Police are still investigating.

A man who answered Murray Fitzpatrick’s phone Thursday declined to comment.

Twitter@larissacahute