THE GRUESOME MURDER trial of a former Canadian porn actor accused of killing and dismembering a Chinese student has gotten underway with a judge warning potential jurors to expect “shocking and disturbing” evidence.
Luka Rocco Magnotta, wearing a grey-blue polo shirt, sat in silence with his eyes mostly closed as what is expected to be a lengthy jury selection for his trial in Montreal began.
Magnotta, 32, is accused of using an ice pick to stab his 33-year-old victim Lin Jun to death in May 2012 before carving up his body, sexually abusing the corpse, filming the act and posting the video online.
Days after the killing, Montreal police discovered the victim’s torso in a suitcase by the trash outside an apartment along a busy highway.
His severed hands and feet were sent through the mail to federal political parties in Ottawa and to two schools in Vancouver. The head was found in a Montreal park months later.
Magnotta was arrested in Germany in June and extradited after fleeing Canada.
Judge Guy Cournoyer told panelists they would be confronted with evidence that was likely to be “shocking and disturbing which could be upsetting.”
Magnotta has pleaded not guilty to five charges including first degree murder; committing an indignity to a body; publishing obscene material; criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of parliament; and mailing obscene and indecent material.
A total of 1,600 potential jurors gathered at the court yesterday for a process expected to last several days which will see them whittled down to 12 panelists with two alternates.
The trial judge also warned jurors they would be required to be bilingual with proceedings to be conducted in French and English.
- © AFP 2014.
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