Man found guilty of 1st-degree murder of Vancouver couple after judge rejects 'gaming consciousness' defence

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Laura Gerow has found Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam, 27, guilty of two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of Dianna Mah-Jones, 64, and Richard Jones, 68, in South Vancouver in 2017.

Kam admitted he killed the couple in their Marpole home, but entered not guilty pleas to both counts. His lawyer argued that Kam was in an altered state at the time of the killings and believed he was in the fictional world of a video game.

Throughout the trial in the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, the court heard details of the brutal slayings. Kam packed the weapons he would use in a backpack, and used a hatchet and knife repeatedly on his victims.

He drank some milk from the fridge and ate a peach he found at the home, before he dragged the victims' bodies into a shower stall in their home. That's where they were eventually found, water still running.

The Crown argued that the evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Kam was the killer, that he intended to kill Mah-Jones and Jones, and that he planned the killings.

Kam's lawyer conceded that the lesser charge of manslaughter had been proven, but that there was doubt about the intent for murder. The case for Kam being not criminally responsible was not made.

The judge in the case determined that little or no weight ought to be given to the testimony of a clinical psychologist that suggested the "gaming consciousness" altered state.

"Mr. Kam acted with purpose and foresight leading up to the attack," said Gerow in her decision on Thursday.

The court heard Kam's computer search history revealed he had researched stun guns that could render a person unconscious and crime scene cleanup online in the weeks leading up to the killings.

A first-degree murder conviction carries a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.