Minutes after a court found Martin Rondeau not criminally responsible for beating an elderly nun to death, the nun's superior delivered her own spiritual judgment: forgiveness.

Sister Superior Pauline Massicotte said it didn't take long for her and other nuns to find compassion for the man who killed their friend.

"We forgave him right away because he is a human being," Massicotte said outside the courtroom yesterday.

"He's not evil, he's not mean. If the Sister were here today, she would have forgiven him."

During the brief, subdued hearing Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer concluded Rondeau was suffering from mental health problems triggered by an epileptic fit at the time Sister Estelle Lauzon was killed.

"At the time of the assault on Sister Estelle, the accused suffered from an epileptic seizure and his body was disconnected from his mind," Crown prosecutor Louis Bouthillier said afterwards.

"He was not responsible for his actions."