Man who told court he killed Vancouver couple testifies about video games

'Video game defence' at double murder trial Lawyers defending an accused killer told a Vancouver courtroom he thought he was playing a videogame when he killed a couple in 2017.

VANCOUVER — A man who testified Tuesday about attacking and killing a Vancouver couple took the stand for a second day, where he was questioned about his video game play, something he testified he used to do as much as 12 hours a day or more.

Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Dianna Mah-Jones and her husband Richard Jones. The couple were found dead in their Marpole home on Sept. 27, 2017.

Kam has testified he did not know the couple, and had no reason to attack them.

He told a Vancouver courtroom Tuesday he forced his way into their home on Sept. 26, 2017, where he said he choked and stabbed Mah-Jones with a pocketknife, and then stabbed her husband and hit him with a hatchet.

Defence lawyer Glen Orris is arguing Kam was suffering from a mental disorder at the time that made him believe he was not functioning in the real world, but in a fictional world that was essentially a video game.

"Within the game, he obviously attacked and killed Mr. and Mrs. Jones," Orris said Tuesday. "But he believed that his actions occurred within a game, and in effect, did not appreciate the nature and quality of the acts in a real sense, and the consequences."

Orris also told the court Kam was playing video games anywhere from 10 to 15 hours a day, and reading fantasy comics.

There were times during Wednesday's testimony when the courtroom was filled with the sounds of the video game Skyrim, as the defence played clips and then asked Kam questions about what the court was seeing.

The role-playing video game, which allows players to choose a character and see through their eyes, is one of the games Kam testified he spent a lot of time playing while attending university in Calgary.

Defence lawyer Faisal Alamy played several clips of his own Skyrim game play which he recorded, including sequences that showed other players being attacked and killed with weapons wielded by the person playing the game.

Kam testified players of the game are able to go where they want and do what they want.

The courts heard the game allows players to pick locks and enter homes, and Kam testified there can be benefits to entering someone's house in the game, if a player is on a particular mission or needs money.

The defence also played a clip of a video game called Dishonored, and asked Kam questions about what was happening on screen. It’s another first-person game Kam testified he used to play while in university, but not as much as Skyrim.

Kam was also briefly asked about comics he used to access online, and browsing history that showed he had been looking at a comic earlier in the evening on the day of the killings. Some pages were entered as an exhibit, but were not fully visible from the gallery.

The Crown has argued the killings required planning and deliberation.

Video was played earlier in the trial showing the purchase of a hatchet, gardening gloves and a baseball hat at a Canadian Tire two weeks before the murders.

The Crown's submission is the items were purchased with the intent to kill someone.

On Tuesday, Kam confirmed the person seen in the video is him.

His testimony is set to continue Thursday.