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Canadian found guilty of murdering, dismembering Chinese student

24 December 2014 02:45 (UTC +04:00)

Luka Magnotta, 32, had admitted to killing and dismembering engineering student Jun Lin, 33, but pleaded not guilty on grounds of mental illness.

Magnotta was also found guilty of committing an indignity to a human body, publishing and mailing obscene material, and criminally harassing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament.

The prosecution had argued that Magnotta was "a man on a mission" and had carefully planned his acts.

The verdict came on the 8th day of jury deliberations.

Magnotta, standing in a glassed-in, high-security prisoner's dock, showed no emotion and only lowered his eyes as the verdicts on each of the five charges were read out.

A first-degree murder conviction in Canada carries an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

The presiding judge, Justice Guy Cournoyer, told the court the case "was by all standards unique" and praised the jury.

"We have asked a lot of you but you rose to the occasion and indeed proved that real and substantive justice is a reality," he said.

The victim's father, Diran Lin, traveled from China to attend the trial. A lawyer representing him read the father's statement to the court after the verdict.

"The night Lin Jun died, parts of many other people died in one way or another. His mother, his sister and me, his friends ... in one night, we lost a lifetime of hope," the statement said.

"I had come to see your trial system to see justice done, and I leave satisfied that you have not let my son down."