WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — A Canadian judge ruled Thursday that a man accused of beheading and cannibalizing a fellow Greyhound bus passenger is not criminally responsible due to mental illness.
The decision means Chinese immigrant Vince Li will be treated in a mental institution instead of going to prison. The victim's family dismissed the trial as a "rubber stamp" that allows Li to get away with murder.
The judge said Li should not be held criminally accountable for stabbing Tim McLean dozens of times last July and dismembering his body while horrified passengers fled.
Justice John Scurfield said Li's attack was "grotesque" and "barbaric" but "strongly suggestive of a mental disorder."
"He did not appreciate the actions he committed were morally wrong. He believed he was acting in self-defense," Scurfield said.
Both the prosecution and the defense argued Li can't be held responsible because Li was suffering from schizophrenia and believed God wanted him to kill McLean because the young man was a force of evil.
He will be institutionalized without a criminal record and will be reassessed every year by a mental health review board to determine if he is fit for release into the community.
Li's trial barely lasted two days and only heard from two witnesses, both psychiatrists, who testified he is mentally ill.
That Li killed the 22-year-old carnival worker was never in question at the trial. Li has admitted he killed McLean but pleaded not guilty.
Witnesses said Li attacked McLean unprovoked as their bus traveled at night along a desolate stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway.
An agreed statement of facts between the prosecution and defense detailed how passengers stood outside the bus as Li stabbed McLean dozens of times and beheaded and mutilated his body. Finding himself locked inside the bus, Li finally escaped through a window and was arrested.
Li then apologized and pleaded with police to kill him.
Police said McLean's body parts were found throughout the bus in plastic bags, and the victim's ear, nose and tongue were found in Li's pocket.
A psychiatrist called by the prosecution Wednesday testified that Li cut up McLean's body because he believed that he would come back to life and take revenge.
McLean's family is vowing to turn their attention to fighting the law that allows people who are found not criminally responsible to be released into the community once they are deemed well, without serving a minimum sentence in jail.
McLean's mother, Carol deDelley, said her son didn't die in vain. His death highlights concerns about the justice system, she said.
"Now people are aware that there is a problem," she said.

OMG that is a complete lack of justice there! He should be locked up forever...or better yet put to death himself!

I read that story a whole back bevause of a google headline i saw. OMG how grotesque! I think the victims mother is right you can't "cure" schitzophrenia, You can medicate but there is no cure so you can't just hand someone like that a bottle of pills and say here take these everyday and you will be just fine. but when they quit taking them for whatever reason or the dosage quit working they are out reeking havock on socity. Jeff sees it everyday mental health unit is his specialty at the sheriff's department.

I understand he needs help, but for him to be treated at the "state's" cost and not have any sort of criminal record is just insane. He'll be reassessed every year - does that mean if he's better in a year, they'll let him out? NO THANK YOU!

i understand him needing help and i feel he should get it, i can see not putting him in jail and throwing away the key but i don't ever want him back on the streets, i remember reading that story when it happened and it scared me to death and made me sick to my stomach, the impression i got was if he is better at a yearly evaluation he will be released, and i guess the forgiving side of me should be okay with him being back on the streets if he is "cured" cuz he's obviously very mentally ill but i just can't, i'm not that forgiving i guess, the thought of him out on the streets would scare me to death. This bothers me cuz he did something so horrible and as humans we should try to help him but at the same time what he did was so horrible how could ppl. ever live walking past him on the streets.

Can't even read it b/c that case disgusted me to begin with.

He is responsible for it....he might not be responsible for the disease he has...but he is responsible for making sure he is properly treated for the disease.....

If I were that man's family I would be livid!!!

I agree with the fact that he needs mental help and needs to be institutionalized. Jail will not give him the help he needs, but he should not be released back in to the community. Once he is deemed "well" then he should be put in jail.

OMFG. I am livid! That's absolutely disgusting and embarrassing (from a Canadian's POV). I too, understand that he obviously has issues that he can't really control. But I don't think that him not getting ANY time in jail is right at all. I'm so disgusted with our legal system right now. Tim McLean was killed on my 22nd birthday. He was just 22 himself. Wow. Just wow.

quote:

Originally posted by ~Danni~:
I agree with the fact that he needs mental help and needs to be institutionalized. Jail will not give him the help he needs, but he should not be released back in to the community. Once he is deemed "well" then he should be put in jail.

EXACTLY!!! It's like he gets a slap on the wrist: here: go to therapy - when that works, you're all good. Ridiculous!!

Yeah that whole trial disgusted me. Absolutely disgusted me, I think that justice was not served AT ALL in this case. Yes he needs treatment but he DID KILL A MAN, dismembered, cannibalized etc. etc. etc. He deserves a hefty jail sentence and a criminal record. The fact that he will be reassessed yearly and possibly released makes me ill.