A photo entered as evidence from the crime scene is shown at the murder trial for Luka Rocco Magnotta Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. Magnotta is charged in connection with the death and dismemberment of university student Jun Lin in a case that made international headlines.
The Globe's Les Perreaux (@perreaux) and Ingrid Peritz (@iperitz) are following the Magnotta trial in Montreal. Follow them for updates. Warning: Story contains graphic details.
Luka Magnotta carefully wrapped parts of Jun Lin's body in pink tissue paper and black gift bags before sending them to two Vancouver schools and the Conservative and Liberal party offices in Ottawa. Mr. Lin's head he left exposed to the elements on the edge of a pond in a Montreal park.
The Canada Post boxes contained notes: One was an incoherent complaint directed at Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife, Laureen. One of the boxes sent to the Vancouver schools contained a poem written in block letters: "Roses are red, violets are blue. They're going to need dental records to identify you." In the bottom of the box, a heart was drawn.
Jurors at the first-degree murder trial of Luka Magnotta were shown photos of the boxes, notes and other contents on Tuesday. It may all eventually factor into one key decision they must make: Is this evidence of planning and pre-meditation by a man who committed first-degree murder, or does it help prove Mr. Magnotta is mentally ill and cannot be held criminally responsible for his actions?
Mr. Magnotta has admitted he killed Mr. Lin, dismembered his body, and sent the parts by mail, but his lawyer says his client has schizophrenia and could not form the criminal intent necessary for conviction.
Mr. Magnotta has been charged with first-degree murder, mailing obscene and indecent material, committing an indignity to a body, publishing obscene material, and criminally harassing Mr. Harper. Parts of Mr. Lin's body were found outside a shabby apartment on Décarie Boulevard in Montreal.
Crime scene photographer Chantal Turmel showed images of the apartment in court on Tuesday. Small red stains were splattered on the walls and bathroom. Larger stains covered the mattress in the one-room apartment, and a pool of what appears to be blood had collected in the bottom of the refrigerator.
Another crime scene photographer, Richard Dionne, told the court that, about 35 days after those images were taken and a month after Mr. Magnotta's arrest, he was called to Angrignon Park in southwestern Montreal, where Mr. Lin's decomposed head was discovered next to a pond, about 10 metres off a path.
Mr. Magnotta's lawyer, Luc Leclair, spent the afternoon introducing dozens of pieces of evidence of which the Crown has already shown photographs, including clothing, knives, and an angle grinder, a tool usually used to cut metal. It was not clear what precise role those items played in Mr. Lin's death, or how Mr. Leclair intends to use them in Mr. Magnotta's defence.
Les Perreaux