"Heady and above all": No trace of contrition of the slayer Luka Magnotta in a new book

Deny, deny, deny.

Anyone looking for signs of remorse from Luka Magnotta for killing and dismembering an international student will not find it in a recently published book featuring in-depth interviews with the former escort, known to be a narcissist in search of attention.

"He presents the same way now as in his day. Rather haughty and above all that, "says crime writer Brian Whitney, who co-wrote the book with Magnotta's mother, Anna Yourkin.

Yourkin, who had remained until then largely out of the spotlight, offers in the opening pages of the book "My Son, The Killer" his "most sincere condolences" to the victim's family, Jun Lin, before describing in detail the nightmare "with his family.

Despite all the sorrow, anger, depression, shame and fear, she says that she has never stopped loving her son and that she is "proud of her". to be his mother ". She claims that he's "not a monster".

Magnotta attracted worldwide attention in 2012 when he was named a suspect in Lin's recorded death of death, a 33-year-old Chinese student in exchange in Montreal, whose body parts were sent to different parts of the country. As a result of an international hunt, Magnotta was arrested in a cybercafe in Berlin.

He presents the same way now as at the time. Rather haughty and especially

At his 2014 Montreal lawsuit, Magnotta's attorneys claimed that he was not criminally responsible for the murder for the reason that he was suffering from a mental disorder that rendered him incapable to know what was right. But a jury found him guilty and a judge sentenced him to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

During telephone and mail interviews, Magnotta, 36, refused to tell Whitney about the real murder. Instead, he proposed an exhaustive list of rebuttals against many of his allegations.

According to the book, Magnotta has never taken part in the "absurd" use of non-criminally responsible defense by his lawyers ("Whenever a strange claim has been made to me, had to admit it, as it would help my case ") denied killing kittens (" I adore and love them "); and challenged the notion that he is seeking attention ("This inaccurate spin could not be further from the truth").

Magnotta also denied having put up dozens of online profiles and Facebook pages, claiming that it was "a huge lie perpetrated by trolls on the Internet". But Whitney writes in the book that Magnotta wanted people to know who he was, going so far as to "pay people to edit the photos of him and then post them online" in order to give him a rich or special look.

In order to create more "buzz" about himself, he also spread a rumor that he was going out with a serial killer, Karla Homolka. Magnotta told Whitney that "unstable cyber-stalkers" were behind this rumor, but a psychiatric badessment report written by Dr. Joel Watts prior to the trial indicated that Magnotta had admitted that he was "in danger". to be linked to Homolka to "seem more severe".

Whitney told the National Post in an e-mail that the interviews conducted by the interviews were a recurring theme. "He thinks society is sick – not him. He feels (or at least says) that people are obsessed with him, constantly inventing things, chatting about him, and so on. I think that there were really times when I felt that he was misleading, other times he felt that he actually believes this what he is saying. "

Meanwhile, Yourkin describes in the book the "total shock" that she felt while watching her son on television being escorted by the police aboard a military plane.

"I started crying uncontrollably. I cried for my son; I cried for Jun Lin and his family; I cried for my family and cried for myself, "she wrote.

I started crying uncontrollably. I cried for my son; I cried for Jun Lin and his family; I cried for my family and cried for myself

Yourkin says that she and other family members have received numerous calls from Watts and defense lawyers, who were seeking information before the trial. "We had the impression that they were waiting for us to find the word or the phrase" magic "that would be the solution to make sense of it all and to give a reason to the act of which Luka was accused, but we could not of course.We were just as confused, maybe more than anyone else.

At one point, she wrote, the lawyers thought it would be logical for Yourkin to publish a statement on behalf of her son, but she refused. That would make no difference and would only add "fuel to the fire," she wrote.

"The public hated Luka."

Yourkin says she thought about how things could have happened if her son had intervened earlier.

"He tried, but he never seemed to comfortably fit anywhere. When the world in which he lived dropped him from time to time and hurt him, he began to create a perfect life, a life that he could control, a life that he wanted. … Luka was in a constant inner battle, as though he was supported by something or someone.

When the family learned of her possible connection with cat slaughter videos, she asked the police to find him, she wrote. "We knew the situation was getting harder and harder to control and would get worse if he did not get help."

Despite his long correspondence with Magnotta, Whitney admits in the book that it was a challenge to fall into the head of the murderer who had married another inmate, Anthony Jolin, last year. As for Magnotta, "who really knows what he thinks or what moral code he understands?

"I interviewed him. I have talked a lot with his mother. I certainly have my ideas on what he thinks, but do I really know what he thinks? I do not."

Which raises the question: what value is there to give this platform to Magnotta?

Whitney told The Post that he did not think the book glorified Magnotta, adding, "I do not think it will be advantageous for any of us to d & # 39; ignore things that make us feel uncomfortable or bothering us Interviews with criminals of all kinds are an opportunity for all of us to understand how and why people do what they do, and hopefully -the, can help us fight against this type of society in the future. "

Whitney adds that, in the book, it would have been "nice to pay more attention to Jun Lin, but as in all stories about Luka, he is still the star and he will also be in this story."