‘Webcam’ murder case now in jury’s hands

WARNING: CONTENTS MAY DISTURB SOME READERS

TORONTO (CP) — A jury that convicted a man of first-degree murder in the “webcam” death of a student from China did not know about “disturbing” alleged online postings, his collection of Asian pornography and complaints of previous attacks on women.

Brian Dickson was found guilty Monday after the jury deliberated for four hours. He showed no discernible reaction to the verdict nor to the automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

His victim’s parents travelled from China for the trial. Qian Liu’s father wiped tears from his eyes as the verdict was read.

“We are still very sad,” Jian Hui Liu said after the verdict through a translator. His wife clutched a picture of their daughter and cried silently.

“The jury system in Canada is very good and very fair.”

Liu, 23, had been chatting via webcam with her ex-boyfriend in China in the early morning hours of April 15, 2011, when he saw Dickson force his way into Liu’s room and knock her down.

The ex-boyfriend, Xian Meng, testified that after the sound of two muffled bangs he said he heard no more sounds from Liu. Then he heard Dickson breathing heavily and moments later the man appeared naked in front of the webcam and turned off the computer, Meng testified.

The York University student was found dead mostly naked and face down on the floor of her off-campus basement apartment. Semen matched to a high probability to Dickson was on her thigh and groin.

One forensic pathologist concluded Liu’s cause of death was unascertained, though mechanical asphyxiation — including neck compression — was the best overall explanation. A second forensic pathologist definitively concluded it was mechanical asphyxiation.

Dickson’s lawyer, Robert Nuttall, said his client accepted the verdict, but he will look to see if there are grounds for appeal.

“The case hung on the mechanism of death,” Nuttall said. “The jury struggled with it, the jury made their decision and they made their decision of first-degree murder.”

The verdict indicates the jury believed Dickson intentionally killed Liu in the course of a sexual assault.

But the 12 jurors did not know about evidence that was presented at Dickson’s bail hearing in January 2012, but wasn’t introduced at his trial.

Toronto Police Det.-Sgt. Frank Skubic testified at the bail hearing that the child exploitation section of the sex crimes unit searched Dickson’s Internet presence and the “most concerning” activities were from a website for “nudist friends.”

Police found 34 posts to a variety of message boards, including ones in which the poster advocated having sex with children, Skubic testified. He listed some excerpts.

“As for actual incest, I think it depends on the parents and the kids,” the user Charmane Star wrote. “I do encourage it though, but only after they begin to develop.”

If he has kids they will “definitely be exposed to porn and oral,” the user wrote.