Justice Done

Lin Jun was a university student in Montreal when he was murdered in 2012

Lin Diran received a bitter sweet Christmas present yesterday.

His son Lin Jun's killer was convicted of first degree murder in Montreal and will be behind bars for 25 years without parole.

The horrific crime took place in 2012 when Luka Magnotta lured 33-year-old Lin to his apartment, murdered him, did indecent acts with the body, dismembered the body and disposed of the body parts by mailing some of them to two Vancouver addresses as well as members of parliament including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Luka Magnotta (centre) was sentenced to 25 years in prison

Magnotta, 32, tried to plead he had schizophrenia that caused him to kill, claiming his father had the illness and so did he, but after eight days of deliberation, the jury did not believe the porn star's supposed mental illness was the reason why he callously murdered Lin.

It was an excruciating wait for Lin Diran, but in the end the jury decided the facts of the case all pointed to Magnotta's obsessive desire for attention, videotaping the murder and putting it online, and that it was premeditated, and that he was not schizophrenic at all.

A key piece of evidence was Magnotta's email to a British journalist six months prior to the murder, saying he planned to kill a human and make a movie out of it.

After the verdict was read out, the prosecutor read out Lin Diran's statement.

"The night Lin Jun died, parts of many other people died in one way or another. His mother, his sister and me, his friends... in one night, we lost a lifetime of hope," the statement read.

Lin Jun's parents: his father Lin Diran attended the trial

"I had come to see your trial system to see justice done, and I leave satisfied that you have not let my son down."

Lin Diran had come to Canada to attend the trial which must have been an eye-opening experience for him. He also probably learned more about his son's life in Montreal, how he enjoyed living abroad, and became more comfortable as a gay man, something he may have hidden from his family.

However, Lin Jun's life as an undergraduate student at Concordia University was cut short by an egotistical man who thought nothing of others except that they were for him to determine their fates. After the murder Magnottta fled Montreal to Europe and watched on social media as the authorities tried to catch up with him. Eventually he was recognized by someone in a cafe and was arrested.

It is a relief that this sensational case is over, though Lin Jun will never come back to his family. We hope that this verdict will bring some comfort to them, knowing their son's killer is being punished severely for his heinous crime for a long time.