Warning: This story contains graphic details and language.
MONTREAL — Day 14 of the Luka Magnotta murder trial ended with the testimony of the Montreal police officer who examined the data files from the suspect’s digital camera.
Expert witness, Panagiotis Sarganis, told the jury that the camera was discovered in the garbage outside the suspect’s apartment, and could not be turned on; however he was able to retrieve 15 videos and 505 still images found on the camera’s memory card.
READ MORE: Court hears details of blood stain evidence in Magnotta apartment
Determining when the images were created was difficult, as the camera’s time stamp was set to default, however Sarganis said he was able to confirm that the last access date to the camera for all but three video files was May 25, 2012; these three were last accessed on May 22, 2012.
When asked by the crown what these video files showed, Sarganis replied: “I’d have to show you.”
READ MORE: Luka Magnotta’s gore video: Why is the court seeing it?
The court also heard testimony from two other witnesses: Geneviève Benoît, a Canada Post inspector in Ottawa, and Theresa Kelm, an Ottawa police officer.
On Monday morning, the jury at the Magnotta murder trial heard what happened when a suspicious parcel arrived at Conservative Party offices on May 29, 2012.
Jenni Byrne, at the time Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s deputy chief of staff, told the jury that her assistant brought a half-opened package to her.
As Byrne described opening it, the courtroom was very quiet, with the jury listening attentively.
She said the package contained bright pink tissue paper and something soft and “mushy” wrapped in a black garbage bag.
She asked her assistant to bring a pair of scissors, and as she cut open the bag, she noted a strong “rotting” smell.
“There was something not right,” she told the court, and she asked her assistant to call 911.
The box contained a foot belonging to Concordia University student Jun Lin, whom Magnotta has admitted to killing. Lin’s father was in court when testimony began, but he was escorted out of the room before any graphic photos were shown to the jury.
Byrne was also asked if she knew who Laureen Teskey was; she confirmed it was Harper’s wife.
READ MORE: Timeline of events: The Luka Rocco Magnotta case
The next witness was Chantal Pombert, an Ottawa police officer with the forensic identification unit. She was responsible for documenting the scene and collecting evidence.
During her testimony, the jury was shown a series of macabre photographs of the two parcels sent to Ottawa: the one opened by Byrne at Conservative Party offices and the other, destined for the Liberal Party of Canada offices, which was intercepted by authorities at Canada Post on the same day.
The return addressee on both parcels was Renée Bordelais, and each contained a handwritten note on a pink card.
The note found in the package sent to Liberal Party offices read: “You need to speak to Laureen Teskey & her family! Lots to hide!” while the note sent to Conservative Party offices read: “Stephen Harper and Laureen Teskey will know who this is. They f**ked up big time!!”
During his cross-examination of Pombert, defence attorney Luc Leclair brought the jury’s attention to the lower, right-hand corner of the note, where the witness confirmed it was possible to see the impression of a name: “Neil Fenton.”
These two witnesses were preceded by Vee Fong Law, a former Canada Post counter service employee at the Complexe Les Ailes shopping centre in downtown Montreal, where Magnotta mailed two parcels on May 26, 2012 to two schools in Vancouver.
British journalist Alex West is expected to testify this week about his meeting with Magnotta roughly six months before the killing.
West, a reporter for the U.K. Sun, interviewed Magnotta regarding reports that he had appeared in videos online killing cats.
Watch: What to expect in week 4 of Magnotta trial
West said at the time that the meeting left him shaken, calling Magnotta “one of the most disturbed and disturbing individuals” he had ever encountered.
He also revealed details of an email received by The Sun, which he believed to be from Magnotta and included a passage that allegedly read: “I’ll be back — and this time the victims won’t be animals.”
The Crown has told the jury it hopes to prove the email suggests Lin’s killing was premeditated.
On Friday, jury members heard from one of the sons of former prime minister Jean Chrétien, as well as the sister of convicted killer Karla Holmolka.
READ MORE: Chrétien’s son, sister of Karla Holmolka testify at Magnotta trial
The two witnesses, Hubert Chrétien and Lori Logan Valentini, testified via video link from Gatineau, Quebec and Kitchener, Ontario.
Their names and return addresses were listed on one of the packages containing Lin’s body parts that Magnotta sent to a Vancouver school in May 2012.
Watch: Jury hears from Chrétien’s son and sister of Karla Holmolka
The third witness on Friday was a security technician from Air Transat named Steve Fradette. He testified that Magnotta booked an economy flight to Paris at 4:37 p.m. on May 25, 2012 via Expedia, the same day that Lin is believed to have been murdered.
TIMELINE: The Luka Rocco Magnotta case
Magnotta travelled with one suitcase and used a valid passport in his own name, which corresponded with the name on the ticket. A return flight was booked for June 1, but it was logged as a no-show.
The testimony of the three witnesses came after a gruelling day on Thursday where the jury watched a gore video shot by Magnotta while killing and dismembering Lin.
The trial continues on Tuesday morning.
— With files from Domenic Fazioli
Comments