Killer’s video game defence rejected

A judge has dismissed a novel defence that a man accused in the grisly slaying of a Marpole couple in their own home may have been in an altered state due to an addiction to video games, and found him guilty of two counts of murder.

In a ruling released Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Laura Gerow found that the Crown had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam intended to murder Richard Jones, 68, and his wife, Dianna Mah-Jones, and convicted him of first-degree murder.

Kam, wearing a mask, sat impassively in the prisoner’s dock as the judge read out her verdict. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years.

He testified at trial and admitted that he had randomly attacked the couple in their own home, forcing his way in and assaulting MahJones as she arrived at the residence, later slitting her throat with a knife.

When Kam heard a noise at the back of the home, he waited for Jones to enter the home and then attacked him too, using a knife to stab him repeatedly. He also struck him with a hatchet in what the judge described as a “prolonged” and “controlled” attack.

He moved the couple into the kitchen and tied their legs to a chair before dragging the bodies to the shower in the bathroom. Altogether he spent more than two hours in the home.

The case has been put over until June 18 when the judge is expected to hear a number of victim impact statements and impose sentence on Kam.