Luka Magnotta murder trial: Jury shown gruesome evidence and surveillance video from night of killing

Former porn star's lawyers say he is mentally ill and not criminally responsible for dismembering Chinese student

Luka Magnotta is suspected of killing his lover, Jun Lin, a Chinese student, and dismembering his body and posting parts to political parties (AFP)

A model and former porn star who killed and dismembered a Chinese student in Canada sent the body parts to schools and politicians in packages with pink tissue paper and hand-written notes, a court has heard.

Luka Magnotta, 32, has admitted to carrying out the gruesome killing and captured his acts on video camera, but defence lawyers at his murder trial this week said he is not criminally responsible because he is mentally ill.

Yesterday the jury was shown grainy footage from four security cameras positioned outside Magnotta’s Montreal apartment, where he killed and butchered 33-year-old Jun Lin on 24 May, 2012.

Prosecutors said the videos showed the killer holding the door for his victim to enter on the day he died, and then later leaving the flat with a series of black bags and a large grey suitcase containing Mr Lin’s remains.

Throughout this week the court has heard graphic evidence from police and forensic witnesses about the material found in Magnotta’s apartment and in the packages he sent by mail across Canada.

Jurors were shown photographs of packages sent to two Vancouver elementary schools and to the offices of political parties in Ottawa. One item was labeled “black garbage bag wrapped around foot”.

The items addressed to the schools contained pink tissue paper and notes on pink paper. One included a poem reading: “Roses are red, violets are blue, the police will need dental records to identify you, b****.”

The investigator said the boxes that were sent to the political parties included one note that mentioned the name of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's wife.

Prosecutors are trying to prove that Magnotta planned the killing at least six months in advance of Mr Lin’s death.

On Monday, the court heard that Magnotta allegedly emailed a British journalist in 2011 detailing his intention to kill someone and film the act.

The incident first came to police attention when the caretaker at Magnotta’s flat used pliers to break the lock on the grey suitcase, which was left outside and starting to smell. He called the police when he found remains inside – by which point the killer had fled.

The international hunt for Magnotta grabbed headlines around the world in the summer of 2012. He was eventually arrested in an internet cafe in Berlin, where he was reading articles about himself online.

The case continues.