Killer not criminally responsible in beheading

Just when you thought it was safer to take the bus; this cat might be coming to a hospital near you. YG

Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press  Published: Friday, March 06, 2009

"The man who killed, beheaded and cannibalized a passenger on a Greyhound bus last summer is headed to a hospital -- not a prison cell -- after being found not criminally responsible yesterday for his actions.

A judge announced the fate of Vincent Li, who had been charged with second-degree murder in the grisly death of 22-year-old Tim McLean.

Psychiatrists for both the Crown and defence told a trial this week that the 40-year-old Mr. Li could not be held criminally responsible because he had been having a psychotic episode and was hearing voices when he attacked his sleeping victim on the bus near Portage la Prairie, Man.

But the official verdict yesterday morning nonetheless angered family members of the victim.

"He should be held responsible for it," said Mr. McLean's mother, Carol deDelley, minutes after Queen's Bench Justice John Scurfield handed down his decision. "He still did it. Whether he was in his right frame of mind or not, he still did the act. There was nobody else on that bus, holding a knife, slicing up my child."

Mr. McLean's mother has created the deDelley Foundation for Life to pursue changes to criminal law. She wants anyone who voluntarily takes another person's life to lose his freedom for the rest of his life, regardless of whether he is declared not criminally responsible.

Mr. McLean's father said the idea that Mr. Li could receive medication, counselling and then be released back on to the street after committing such a heinous act is frightening.

"I have a fear knowing that he may get out one day," said Tim Mc-Lean, Sr., who also showed reporters the tattoo of his son's face he now bears on his chest.

Justice Scurfield said the evidence was clear Mr. Li was suffering from a major mental illness when he attacked the sleeping Mr. McLean on July 30, 2008, repeatedly stabbing him and then dismembering and eating parts of his body.

"Mr. Li is a schizophrenic," said Crown Attorney Joyce Dalmyn after hearing the verdict. Mr. Li, in my opinion and in the opinion of the psychiatrists, had no idea that what he was doing was wrong ... People who are mentally ill should not be convicted when they don't know what they did was wrong. They need to be treated. I certainly agree that, in Mr. Li's case, he needs to be treated for a very long time."

Details of the crime -- which made news around the globe -- emerged this week at a trial marked by tight security and fears that vigilantes might try to harm Mr. Li.

Mr. Li was hearing voices in his head -- which he believed came from God-- that told him to eliminate "the force of evil" by attacking the sleeping Mr. McLean, psychiatrists said.

Mr. Li stabbed the carnival worker to death, then beheaded and cannibalized the body. Terrified passengers fled the bus with RCMP officers arriving on the scene, only to watch for several hours as Mr. Li continued to stab and defile Mr. McLean's body.

He was seen by police eating some of Mr. McLean's remains. Police later discovered that Mr. McLean's eyes, part of his heart, and other pieces of his flesh were missing.

The end of the trial is cold comfort to Stephen Allison, 20, a Kenora, Ont., native who witnessed Mr. McLean's nightmarish death. He said he understands why the court would opt for treatment over prison, but he is haunted by the idea of Mr. Li being released.

"For someone to even be capable of doing that, there has to be something wrong with them," he said. "I don't know what I'd do if I ever saw him again, because he's just such a scarring image on my mind, that even seeing an image in the paper hurts.""