ABOVE: What evidence will the prosecution use to prove Brian Dickson’s guilt in the “webcam murder” trial? Global’s Sean Mallen was live at the courthouse with the latest details.
TORONTO – The trial of the man accused of killing a York University student started Monday.
On the first day of the trial, the jury saw video and photographs from the murder scene of Liu’s body, face down next to her bed, naked except for a nightgown and sweater which had been pulled up to her shoulders.
Liu’s parents had come from China for the trial and wiped tears from their eyes as the photographs were shown in court.
Last week, Brian Dickson, who has been charged with first degree murder, tried to plead guilty to manslaughter in the death of Qian Liu. That plea was rejected by the Crown.
Defence lawyer, Robert Nuttall, asked the jury to decide not who committed the crime, but instead, what happened. He’s asking the jury to convict Dickson of manslaughter despite the previously rejected plea.
“This is not a who did it case,” Nuttall said in brief opening remarks.
“This is a what happened case. The mechanism of Ms. Liu’s death is very significant evidence in deciding whether the Crown has proven its case is murder beyond a reasonable doubt.”
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The crown lawyer, Christine Pirraglia, said the the probability of another person, other than Brian Dickson, sharing the DNA found on Liu’s body, is one in 25 trillion. The probability of the semen found on Liu’s body belonging to someone other than Dickson was calculated as 1 in 2.7 quintillion.
Liu, a 23-year-old English student from Beijing, was found dead in a basement apartment near the university on April 15, 2011.
Dickson told police soon after Liu’s death he had been at a campus restaurant until about 12:30 a.m. and had gone home to sleep soon after, Pirraglia said Monday.
Police have said she was chatting online via webcam with a friend in China when someone knocked on her door.
Court heard Monday that when the man approached the computer to turn it off, he was naked from the waist down.
The friend became worried about Liu and his concerns led to the discovery of her body.
-with files from The Canadian Press
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