Jun Lin's mother feels sympathy for Magnotta

Montreal - Zhigui Du, mother of Jun Lin, the Chinese exchange student who was murdered by Luka Magnotta two months ago, said after his funeral yesterday that she now feels sympathy for the murderer.

As reported by CTV News, Zhigui said she used to describe her son’s alleged murderer as “the devil,” but her feelings have since changed.

“When I arrived in Canada my heart was filled with rage and pain at these events that took my son’s life,” said Zhigui through a translator during a press conference at Concordia University. “Canada is such a beautiful country with its people (who) are warm and good. How could this terrible tragedy be possible in such peaceful society?”

However, Zhigui said after learning more about the suspect’s background and upbringing, “I shockingly discovered my other self who has started to develop sympathy for this person described as 'devil'." Magnotta is said to have been abandoned by his birth parents and raised by an abusive grandmother. One of his own family members reported his family was very dysfunctional. Magnotta described being abused both to friends and on the Internet. None of his family members have stood by him, as far as we know. He apparently was also sexually abused as a child by an older man and relived these abuses when he got into the sex trade. A lawyer Magnotta confided in about being sexually abused may be called to testify at the murder trial. Magnotta has been described as bipolar and a psychopath. He went on to allegedly participate in cat killing videos before murdering Lin viciously at the end of May. If just one person in Magnotta's life had tried to help him, could Lin's murder have been avoided? As a result of their new found sympathy for their son's killer, the Lin family intends to start a fund for young people in Montreal who are suffering with mental illness. The fund will be established in Jun Lin's name and is the second fund to be named after him; the first was established by Concordia University to benefit promising Chinese students in Montreal.