Montreal , Canada ( CNN ) -- Canadians expressed outrage Thursday after the release of Guy Turcotte , a cardiologist who in 2009 confessed to killing his children as they slept in their beds . What many wanted to know was how a father who stabbed his children dozens of times could be free after 46 months of confinement . Those voices echo the grief of Turcotte 's ex-wife , Dr. Isabelle Gaston , the mother of 5-year-old Olivier and 3-year-old Anne-Sophie . As Gaston pored over her children 's autopsy reports , she wished she had no idea what they meant . But as a physician and a coroner , she knows it 's true : Her children suffered a long , gruesome death . `` I knew it was not a short death . You know , my little boy received 20 stabs of a knife , he had seven marks of defense , '' she told CNN in an interview at her home before Turcotte 's full release . `` He had no wound that was the one that gave him death , '' she added , trying to hold back tears . `` My little girl , she had 19 wounds , maybe she was luckier ? Because she had one that was more mortal than the other . But she felt 19 shots , that 's for sure , '' Gaston said . Turcotte confessed to killing his children in February 2009 but a year later a Canadian jury failed to convict him of the murders , finding him not criminally responsible due to mental illness . At trial , Turcotte testified that he was distraught over his crumbling marriage and snapped , insisting he blacked out and does n't remember killing his children . The jury believed the testimony of two psychiatrists paid for by his defense . They testified that Turcotte could not have known what he was doing when he repeatedly stabbed his children . `` Why do n't I accept that he is mentally ill is when I look at the facts , '' Gaston said . `` We have a person that is a cardiologist that never had a psychiatric incident , not at all . I have trouble to understand how someone in five hours or six hours will do an interview of someone and have a conclusion that he is not a danger to society or is mentally insane . '' Even the Canadian government has weighed in , calling Turcotte 's release `` unacceptable . '' `` We believe that Isabelle Gaston does not deserve to live in fear of her children 's killer and neither do victims of similar crimes across Canada , '' said James Moore , a federal cabinet minister . The Conservative government of Prime Minster Stephen Harper is drafting legislation to make it more difficult for mentally ill offenders to be released from psychiatric facilities , but the pending legislation is not expected to influence Turcotte 's case . In fact , Turcotte told the psychiatric review board that released him that he is looking forward to leading a normal life in the future and hopes to practice medicine and have children again . `` To know that my children faced the person that they should have trusted the most and they were left by themselves to die . No one holding their hand , '' Gaston said . `` I struggle , OK , I struggle all the days , every day of my life and I think till I die I will struggle . ''
Canadian doctor who stabbed his children freed from mental hospital . Cardiologist Guy Turcotte confessed , served 46 months . Children 's mother , also a doctor , says she wants answers . Jury found Turcotte not responsible because of mental illness .