SAGUENAY, Que. - Pallbearers carried an urn holding the ashes of a father and three white caskets containing the bodies of his children through the doors of a Quebec church on Saturday for their funeral.
Around 800 mourners attended the service in Saguenay, but Cathie Gauthier, the children's mother and the man's wife, was absent.
Gauthier has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children -- 12-year-old Joelle, seven-year-old Marc-Ange, and four-year-old Louis-Philippe.
The 36-year-old has also been charged with helping husband Marc Laliberte, 46, commit suicide.
Quebec provincial police allege Laliberte and Gauthier, who was treated for self-inflicted knife wounds, made a pact to commit suicide after killing their kids.
Rev. Gaetan Thibeault, who presided over the service, asked those in attendance to be forgiving despite the deep sadness around the deaths.
"We can't understand and because of that, we cannot judge," Thibeault said after the service.
It's been more than a week since the bodies were discovered and locals are still having difficulty coming to grips with the killings.
"I just can't even imagine what could have happened, how it could come to that," said one woman at the service.
"My daughter was in Joelle's class and throughout the ceremony I prayed to God that this could never happen to me."
Police have remained silent on the motive for the alleged suicide pact, but both adults had recently lost their jobs.
Laliberte's body and those of the children were found Jan. 2 in the family bungalow in the Chicoutimi borough of Saguenay, north of Quebec City.
Dominic Bouchard, Gauthier's lawyer, has said a note was found in the home.
Bouchard said there was no reason to request a psychiatric evaluation of his client right away, adding she understood the process and the charges against her.
Gauthier was arraigned by telephone in her hospital bed.
