Judge rules not criminally responsible

A judge has ruled that Vincent Li is not criminally responsible for the murder and dismemberment of Tim McLean aboard a Greyhound bus.

Yet, in a strange development confirmed shortly after the ruling, a government official told media Li will have a criminal record, which is not typically the case for those found not criminally responsible (NCR).

That official has not yet explained why or how this will occur.

Earlier, the judge did offer insight as to why he chose the NCR ruling.

“Persons who are profoundly ill do not have the mental capacity to intentionally commit a crime,” said Justice John Scurfield.

“This case has attracted international attention because of the barbaric manner in which Mr. McLean was killed,” Scurfield said.

“These grotesque acts are appalling…but are strongly suggestive of a mental disorder.”

The ruling means Li will be held in custody at a mental institution, not jail.

Li will remain in secure custody at the psychiatric unit of Health Sciences Centre until a hearing can be scheduled before the mental health review board.

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Vincent Li Found NOT Criminally Responsible

Vince Li has been found not criminally responsible in the unprovoked killing of fellow passenger Timothy McLean on a Greyhound bus last summer.

Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Judge John Scurfield said Thursday that Li, 40, could not be found guilty of murder and is not criminally responsible for the crime because he was mentally ill at the time of the killing.

“These grotesque acts are appalling… but are suggestive of a mental disorder,” the judge said.

“He did not appreciate the act he committed was wrong.”

Li had pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. Psychiatric evidence at his trial suggested he is a schizophrenic who suffered a major psychotic episode last July 30 when he stabbed McLean, 22, to death.

For five hours after the killing Li wandered around on the bus, from which passengers had fled onto a lonely stretch of Manitoba highway, defiling the body while an RCMP tactical team waited to subdue him.

Rather than go to prison, Li will be kept in a secure psychiatric facility, most likely in Selkirk, Man.

He comes under the jurisdiction of Manitoba’s provincial review board, which will decide whether he poses a risk to the public. The review board has the power to keep Li locked up indefinitely or, if he is no longer considered a risk, discharge him.

McLean’s family had been lobbying for a change in the Criminal Code to prevent mentally ill killers from being released back into the community. His mother, Carol de Delley, has said that regardless of the verdict, she would do everything in her power to ensure Li is never released from secure custody.

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Greyhound bus witnesses receive $450 after gruesome killing

Greyhound Canada has offered six counselling sessions and paid $450 compensation to a young Manitoba couple who were first-hand witnesses to a horrific killing on a passenger bus last summer.

Stephen Allison and his wife, Isabelle, were sitting opposite Vince Li and Tim McLean on Greyhound bus 1170 last July 30 when Li pulled a knife and killed young McLean.

“Seeing that is not something you get over very quickly,” Stephen Allison, 20, said Wednesday. “It’s made me a shell of my former self. I’m trying to get back to normal but it’s hard.”

He still recalls vividly the events of that night. (more…)

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The judge said he will deliver his verdict at 10 a.m. CT on Thursday.

A two-day Winnipeg trial in a case of killing and beheading on a Greyhound bus ended Wednesday with both sides seeking the same verdict — not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder.

The judge said he will deliver his verdict at 10 a.m. CT on Thursday.

Psychiatrists for the Crown and the defence agreed during the short trial that Vince Li, 40, was suffering from schizophrenia and did not know what he was doing when he killed 22-year-old Timothy McLean of Winnipeg on a bus in Manitoba last July.

That verdict would mean he could be sent to a provincial psychiatric facility rather than to prison. He would be placed under the authority of a provincial review board with power to keep him in custody or, if he is no longer considered a risk, discharge him.

‘He has a major mental illness that …rendered him unable to know what he was doing was wrong’—Dr. Jonathan Rootenberg

Toronto psychiatrist Jonathan Rootenberg, testifying for the defence, told court Wednesday that Li suffers from schizophrenia and was probably psychotic for weeks before the attack.

Rootenberg said Li meets the criteria for an accused person who would be not criminally responsible. “He has a major mental illness that …rendered him unable to know what he was doing was wrong,” the psychiatrist said, suggesting Li knew he was stabbing someone but thought it was a demon and didn’t understand the nature of his actions.

Earlier, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Stanley Yaren, testifying for the Crown, also gave evidence that Li was diagnosed as schizophrenic and suffered from a major psychotic episode — tormented by auditory hallucinations — at the time of the killing.

Yaren testified that according to Li, God told him that McLean was a “force of evil” who was about to stab Li unless he protected himself.

McLean’s family has been lobbying for changes to the Criminal Code that would prevent a person found not criminally responsible for a crime from ever being released into the community.

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Review boards balance public safety, rights of those not criminally responsible

A lawyer who chairs the board that will decide Vince Li’s fate if he’s found not criminally responsible for beheading a bus passenger says such findings don’t mean a person gets off scot-free.

“It’s not a get-out-of-jail-free situation,” said John Stefaniuk of the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board.

A judge will rule Thursday on whether to accept the argument by both Crown and defence lawyers that Li was not criminally responsible for the horrific death of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus last summer.

If such a ruling is made Li would receive treatment for his mental illness. It would be up to the review board to decide when, if ever, Li is released. His status would be reviewed yearly.

Stefaniuk said there are a number of patients in treatment who would have been back on the streets sooner if they had simply plead guilty to an offence.

Stefaniuk, who spoke generally about the process and not about Li specifically, said the board’s main concern is to balance public safety against a patient’s right to the least restrictive conditions possible. (more…)

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Cold Facts of the Case

However, it is now public record and forms part of a very important aspect of this case. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Vince Weiguang Li was born in Dandong China on 30 April, 1968. He graduated from the University of Wuhan Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science (Computers) in 1992. Mr. Li immigrated to Canada in 2001, and became a citizen in 2005. He graduated from CDI College (Computer Programming) in 2002.

He was divorced from his wife Ana in 2006. During his time in Canada, he held a number of menial jobs including caretaking in a church, assistant manager at McDonalds, sales assistant in the parts department at Canadian Tire, and newspaper carrier. He was unable to obtain employment in his field, and had periods of unemployment, although at other times held two jobs at the same time.

Mr. Li had few friends, those he had describe him as having mental problems, but never knew him to be violent. (more…)

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‘God’ told him to do it

“I believe he was tormented by auditory hallucinations and these took the form of God’s voice giving him instructions … and that he needed to protect himself from evil forces,” Yaren said.

Yaren said Li believed he had received a message from God telling him McLean “was a force of evil that was about to use a knife to execute him.”

Yaren said after killing McLean, Li feared he could come back to life.

Li dismembered McLean’s body and spread the body parts about the bus “to ensure (McLean) did not come back to life to carry out the execution,” Yaren said. “Having killed him, he was still terrified that through supernatural powers he was capable of coming back to life.”

Yaren said Li has admitted most of the allegations against him but “steadfastly denies” eating any parts of McLean’s body.

“I can only surmise that he blocked it from his consciousness … that it is too awful for him to contemplate.” (more…)

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One person’s madman is another’s son

Yesterday, Li who is charged with second-degree murder pleaded not guilty in a Winnipeg court during his trial, which is expected to end tomorrow. His lawyers will present the defence of not criminally responsible because of mental illness.

According to the testimony of forensic psychiatrist Dr. Stanley Yaren, Li has been diagnosed as schizophrenic and suffered a major psychotic episode at the time of the killing. People at the Edmonton church Li attended tried several times to get him to seek psychiatric help. He did not, and Tim McLean died.

Under the present NCR law, Li may be sent to a psychiatric institution, but his case will be reviewed every year to see if he is mentally fit to be allowed back into society. And if so, he will not have a criminal record. In other words, if he moves to another province, police may or may not be informed. It is understandable that deDelley finds such a prospect unacceptable.

“A life for a life,” she says, as she promotes “Tim’s Law.” She wants Li and all others who may be ruled not criminally responsible put away for life, in jail or in a psychiatric institution. No parole.

And of the thousands who have commented online about this case, many want Canada to bring back the death penalty so Li can be executed. End of problem.

Then there’s my friend Sandra. For years, she has not allowed her son inside her house – ever since he came at her with a large, sharp knife. He is suffering from schizophrenia and goes off and on his medication. Mostly, off. Sure, that was the only time that she knows of in which he threatened violence, but she can’t take any chances. (more…)

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The Factual Evidence

WARNING: Contents of this trial coverage could offend readers.

He boarded the Greyhound bus in Edmonton just after midnight last July 29, leaving a note in the apartment he shared with his ex-wife.

“I’m gone. Don’t look for me. I wish you were happy,” Vincent Li wrote, according to testimony heard Tuesday at his second-degree murder trial.

Li — travelling under the bogus name of Wong Pent — had a one-way ticket to Thunder Bay. But he got off the bus in the early evening in Erickson, Man.

He would spend the next 24 hours in Erickson, spending most of the time sleeping and sitting on a park bench. Li also sold and burned many of his possessions, later telling a psychiatrist that he was acting on God’s orders.

Li called his ex-wife around 6 a.m. on July 30 but made little sense. (more…)

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Society can’t take risk of his ‘recovery’

Vince Weiguang Li is one seriously psychotic dude. He hears voices he says commanded him to kill a man, instruct him when to board buses and tell him he’ll have to take part in his own demise one day.

He’s not really sure if it’s God’s voice or an evil spirit tricking him. What he is sure about is the voices told him to stab, mutilate and dismember a travelling carnival worker on a Greyhound bus last year. (more…)

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