Man in court after boyfriend sees woman’s murder on Skype
Brian Dickson has appeared in a Toronto court charged with the murder of Chinese student Liu Qian. She was talking to her boyfriend on Skype when a man knocked on the door and a struggle broke out.
It’s the stuff of horror movies: chatting to your friend on Skype, when an attacker walks into shot and you witness your friend being murdered.
That’s exactly what Meng Xianchao, who was thousands of miles away from his girlfriend, claims happened.
23-year-old Liu Qian, who was a student at York University in Toronto, Canada was chatting with her Chinese boyfriend by webcam at about 1 am local time on Friday 15 April, when a man knocked on her door. Meng said he saw a struggle break out between the two, before Liu’s webcam was shut off.
Meng, who was in China, contacted other friends in Toronto, who in turn called the police. Liu’s body was found in her apartment.
According to police, she was naked from the waist down and there were no obvious signs of sexual assault or trauma that would have led to her death. An autopsy failed to show the cause of death and it could be weeks before the results of toxicology tests are known, Police Sergeant Frank Skubic said.
Sergeat Skubic said her laptop computer, webcam and mobile phone are missing.
As the chat was on a live streaming camera it was not recorded, but investigators are trying to find out whether there was any way of recovering it.
Speaking to Global Television Canada, the victim’s boyfriend said: “Liu Qian was sitting in front of her computer and speaking to him (the perpetrator) in a very casual way,” said Meng. “It was such a normal conversation and I didn’t feel anything special, but I didn’t expect the tragedy would happen.”
Brian Dickson, 29, who lived in the same building as as Liu, has been charged with first-degree murder.
He did not enter a plea and his case was held over until April 26.
