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Magnotta trial hears from Montreal lawyer whose mother's name appeared on parcels

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 27 Oct, 2014 10:54 AM

    MONTREAL - A Montreal lawyer testified at Luka Rocco Magnotta first-degree murder trial today about a relative's name that ended up on two packages containing body parts of Jun Lin.

    Sylvie Bordelais says her mother's name, Renee Bordelais, appeared on boxes that were mailed to political offices in Ottawa.

    Bordelais said her 81-year-old mother was living in the Caribbean in May 2012 and not at the Canadian address that appears on the packages.

    Bordelais says she didn't recognize the writing and that her mother has health problems that would have prevented her from being able to write.

    Magnotta is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying and dismemberment of Lin, a Chinese engineering student.

    He has admitted to the killings but has pleaded not guilty by way of mental disorder.

    Later on Monday, ballistics expert Gilbert Desjardins testified about six tools recovered outside Magnotta's apartment building.

    He also spoke about human bones he inspected for tool marks.

    He said that while marks on the bones could not be linked to specific tools, traces of a saw blade were found on Lin's vertebrae.

    Desjardins was the final live Crown witness: the rest of the testimony will be from European witnesses who were interviewed this past summer or from people who will appear through video conference.

    Magnotta faces four charges in addition to premeditated murder: criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament; mailing obscene and indecent material; committing an indignity to a body; and publishing obscene materials.

    The Crown is expected to wrap up its case this early this week and the defence is tentatively scheduled to begin presenting its case Friday.

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