Closing arguments expected in James McCullough trial

James McCullough is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Alex Fraser. (Source: Facebook)

*GRAPHIC WARNING: Readers may find some of the details to be disturbing*

After nearly a week break the murder trial for James McCullough continues in a London courtroom Monday with closing arguments expected to be heard.

McCullough, 22, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and offering an indignity to a dead body in 20-year-old Alex Fraser's death.

Fraser's body parts were found in two hockey-style bags in a hotel room the two friends shared for a night in September 2013.

Fraser, McCullough said, was "a great guy, an intelligent guy, a computer whiz." The two would hang out on weekends, drinking and doing drugs, he said.

The trial has heard that on one Saturday night, after first drinking at McCullough's home, Fraser and McCullough took a cab from Orangeville, Ont., where they lived, to London, with Fraser clearly intoxicated at the time.

McCullough explained that there were three reasons for the trip -- to party, to go shopping for clothes and to conduct a home invasion on a residence where he once lived when he had attended a college in the city.

The jury has heard that the men checked into a Travelodge, where McCullough gave a fake name, a fake address and paid for the room in cash. The phoney name, McCullough said, was so that he couldn't later be connected to the home invasion he and Fraser were planning.

McCullough told the court that he stabbed his friend in a hotel room after an unwanted sexual advance and then blacked out.

When he regained consciousness, the friend's body parts were lying in a bathtub.

The Crown noted that McCullough told police Fraser was the one who wanted to kill him and owned the knife found in the room.

The trial heard that after Fraser died, McCullough reached out to an old acquaintance in the hope of getting a ride out of town, but the friend refused.

McCullough eventually called 911, saying repeatedly "someone is dead and I am unarmed."

When asked why he called police, McCullough said he did so "because it was the right thing to do."