Man who decapitated, ate fellow bus passenger wins chance to leave hospital grounds

[wfgodot]

I think many of us will remember this Canadian case as, once heard about, it's impossible to forget.

Cannibal allowed to leave mental hospital for a stroll, just four years after he beheaded and ate sleeping bus passenger (Daily Mail)

A man who beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada four years ago won his bid to leave the grounds of the mental hospital where he has been kept, a criminal review board ruled on Thursday.

The Criminal Code review board said Vince Li's treatment team may grant him short escorted trips into Selkirk, Manitoba. The review board said the passes will start at 30 minutes and increase incrementally to a maximum of full days.
---
At Li’s trial in March of 2009, a judge was told that he was an untreated schizophrenic who was suffering from auditory hallucinations commanding him to kill [carnival worker Tim ] McLean, a stranger.

On Thursday, the board said the passes should only be granted if Li's treatment team believes his condition is stable and that it would be ‘appropriate and safe for him to leave the locked ward.’

He will have to be escorted at all times by a nurse and a peace officer who will be wearing street clothes to avoid drawing attention to LI.
---

much more, with pictures, at Daily Mail link above

[badhorsie]

This guy has crossed a barrier, I am a mental health nurse and I am sorry, IMO he should be treated with compassion but never be free

[boston_baby]

wow, good thing not drawing attention to him is apparently among the biggest priorities...

That "person" should not see the light of day except through bars ever again.

[Nova]

Originally Posted by badhorsie

This guy has crossed a barrier, I am a mental health nurse and I am sorry, IMO he should be treated with compassion but never be free

The above is so well put, IMO. I too have no interest in punishing someone who acted out of mental illness. That doesn't mean I trust the psychiatric profession to know with any certainty whether the patient is sufficiently medicated to no longer be a threat.

[katydid23]

Once someone has shown themselves to be dangerous enough, that they could decapitate a stranger and begin eating him, for no reason, ---Sorry, but they should not be walking around free anymore.

[crystalgenie]

Sounds like Washington ... They used to take the criminally insane to carnivals and all kinds of cute outings up until a couple of years ago and they lost one. He escaped and thank God and all the police that caught him 3 days later.

[Woodland]

I would like to see these 'treatments teams' (those suggesting and authorizing escorted passes for now) held criminally responsible if their 'ideas' don't pan out in the short or long term and he, or others with similar illnesses kill again. To be able to sue them in civil court would make the treatment teams look harder at their own actions. It's not a system failure if he fails to take his meds in the future when not escorted.

[redheadedgal]

i was horrified when this happened... and i feel these escorted visits off premises are a slap in the face to mclean and his family ::shakes head::

[brighidin]

I live about 40 minutes from where he is held. While I don't think mentally ill people should be institutionalized as they were in decades past, I don't agree with the not criminally responsible (NCR) designation. I think it is fine for him to take walks around the Selkirk mental hospital, but i don't think he should be allowed out into the community, even with a guard, nor do I think he should ever be set free. Unfortunately it looks like the last two will probably happen at some point.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...152001055.html
" He has been diagnosed as having a 0.8 per cent chance of violently reoffending in the next decade." Really? since when can psychiatrists pinpoint this with such accuracy. perhaps they should get jobs as Vegas oddsmakers.

Of course he is doing fine now: he is in a secure facility and has to take his medication. Once he is deemed cured, he will be released. Who will ensure he takes his medication, then? I think it is great that, as stated in the above article, he has improved his English and has taken occupational training. Nevertheless, I agree with the mother of Tim McLean (the victim) that NCR designated people should be kept in hospital facilities indefinitely.

[Soulmagent]

I think the 0.8 percent chance of him reoffending is to high to risk letting him out.

I have zero percent chance of decapitating a person . I have a 0.8 percent chance of commiting a violent crime. I say that because I could end up in a position to react or overact do to head injury or something . My percent might be even higher who knows. I am not incapable of it I am sure. I slapped my ex husband and might reoffend.

His has to be much higher than mine. This is insane. I remember how he held up the mans head and showed it to the LE. 0.8 ... No way.

Lately I find myself getting really mad about these kinds of things.

[gitana1]

Originally Posted by Woodland

I would like to see these 'treatments teams' (those suggesting and authorizing escorted passes for now) held criminally responsible if their 'ideas' don't pan out in the short or long term and he, or others with similar illnesses kill again. To be able to sue them in civil court would make the treatment teams look harder at their own actions. It's not a system failure if he fails to take his meds in the future when not escorted.

Originally Posted by brighidin

I live about 40 minutes from where he is held. While I don't think mentally ill people should be institutionalized as they were in decades past, I don't agree with the not criminally responsible (NCR) designation. I think it is fine for him to take walks around the Selkirk mental hospital, but i don't think he should be allowed out into the community, even with a guard, nor do I think he should ever be set free. Unfortunately it looks like the last two will probably happen at some point.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...152001055.html
" He has been diagnosed as having a 0.8 per cent chance of violently reoffending in the next decade." Really? since when can psychiatrists pinpoint this with such accuracy. perhaps they should get jobs as Vegas oddsmakers.

Of course he is doing fine now: he is in a secure facility and has to take his medication. Once he is deemed cured, he will be released. Who will ensure he takes his medication, then? I think it is great that, as stated in the above article, he has improved his English and has taken occupational training. Nevertheless, I agree with the mother of Tim McLean (the victim) that NCR designated people should be kept in hospital facilities indefinitely.

I agree with everyone. Especially love these posts.

This is insane. It is very hard to keep schizophrenics in treatment. Besides, he ate a person. Come on!

[revampz]

I'm sorry, I really dont care if he is mentally ill....because if that is the argument what about people who "lose it" or snap so to say and kill someone, you could argue that that is also a mental breakdown, because it is...

This guy has killed someone, that innocent person will never get the chance to see the light of day let alone a hospital......no keep him in forever, medicated or not.

[drip~drop]

Geez. Good thing all he did was murder, decapitate and eat a poor guy.
A few years locked away. All is well, he can go for walkies.

Good thing it was't a doobie he was caught with. He
could still be under the jail.

[Sleuthster]

Originally Posted by drip~drop

Geez. Good thing all he did was murder, decapitate and eat a poor guy.
A few years locked away. All is well, he can go for walkies.

Good thing it was't a doobie he was caught with. He
could still be under the jail.

[LadyL]

he murdered someone

he needs to be kept locked up for more than 3 years, mentally ill or not

[AbbieNormal]

Originally Posted by katydid23

Once someone has shown themselves to be dangerous enough, that they could decapitate a stranger and begin eating him, for no reason, ---Sorry, but they should not be walking around free anymore.

Anyone whose mind can "go there" to decapitate someone and EAT parts of him, I dunno...I wouldn't want him released anywhere near us, thats for sure.
Those crimes are so horrendous, I remember the way the newscaster told the crime on, TV, at first they put it delicately but after the first day or so they were reporting it will full gore in descriptions. He needs to stay in jail, forever if possible. Or stay @ mental hospital. Either way he should not be among people...whose to say the same compulsion to kill won't hit him again? I'm sorry, I think that these people cannot be rehabilitated. Ever. JMO

[wfgodot]

Daily Mail follows up:

Man who beheaded and cannibalised fellow passenger on Greyhound bus thought he was attacking an alien

A Chinese immigrant who beheaded and cannibalised a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus thought he was on a mission from God to kill an alien, according to a mental health worker who interviewed him.
---
According to [Chris Summerville, head of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society]'s transcript, Li recognises that people fear him.

'I understand people are scared because of my behaviour on the Greyhound bus. I am not at risk for anybody. I don't believe in aliens. I don't hear voices,' Mr Summerville quoted Li as saying.

'I take my medication... every day. I am glad to take it. I don't have any weird voices any more.'
---

much more, with pictures, at DM link above

[drip~drop]

Originally Posted by gitana1

I agree with everyone. Especially love these posts.

This is insane. It is very hard to keep schizophrenics in treatment. Besides, he ate a person. Come on!

There's no going back. No re-dos. It's complete and finished.
There is no way this monster can be set free. I can almost guarantee you that if his meds made him gain weight, feel funny or 1000 other things, he won't ever take another on his own again.

Let whoever would let him free, keep him as a guest in their home.
Just don't ask what's for dinner if he cooks.
uke" (hmmmm that was P U K E )

[HMSHood]

Originally Posted by revampz

I'm sorry, I really dont care if he is mentally ill....because if that is the argument what about people who "lose it" or snap so to say and kill someone, you could argue that that is also a mental breakdown, because it is...

This guy has killed someone, that innocent person will never get the chance to see the light of day let alone a hospital......no keep him in forever, medicated or not.

If he is mentally ill, he should be locked up for good.

[katydid23]

If he is doing well there, taking his meds, not hearing voices anymore, not seeing aliens, then he should happily live his life, there among his friends and his health workers. Because, as mentioned by others, once he gets too much freedom, he will probably start skipping his meds. And those voices will reappear...

[wfgodot]

While his walks outside the ground would be (at least initially) in the company of a nurse and a peace officer, I'd be worried he'd get the drop on them and skedaddle.

While I do understand why authorities may okay such a walk, I agree with badhorsie (above), that, after crossing the barrier that he did, he should never be free - even if that freedom means being accompanied by a pair of professionals.

[brighidin]

Originally Posted by wfgodot

While his walks outside the ground would be (at least initially) in the company of a nurse and a peace officer, I'd be worried he'd get the drop on them and skedaddle.

While I do understand why authorities may okay such a walk, I agree with badhorsie (above), that, after crossing the barrier that he did, he should never be free - even if that freedom means being accompanied by a pair of professionals.

He will probably be set free within the next few years. Most who are found NCR are not held for very long.

i don't think he was a monster. I understand that he was a paranoid schizophrenic. I think he will take his meds when he is in the hospital. The way I understand it, is that when he is 'freed' from the hospital in Selkirk, Manitoba his medicine intake will be monitored. However, the problem is that if he moves to another province, he will most likely fall through the cracks because health care is a provincial power and there isn't any sort of meaningful system of communication or surveillance between the provinces.

Li was taking medication for schizophrenia before and he had been hospitalized before, but he left that province and there was no one, or nothing, to keep tabs on him.

I think mental illness can be controlled and people can absolutely live meaningful, productive lives. The way the NCR laws are set up seem to suggest that once a person's mental illness is under control they are seen as cured. That is not right. IMO

Mental health advocates keep blaming the media for sensationalizing this murder and they keep stating that Vince Li is not a threat to the public. I do not agree with that. As I said previously, I am glad that we have moved away from wholesale institutionalization but, sadly, I fear that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. Vince Li is a threat to public safety because he viciously killed someone and there is no way to ensure that he takes his medication everyday for the rest of his life.

Carol de Delley, the victim's mother has commented publicly that she has compassion for people with mental illnesses, but believes that if they commit horrific crimes, like Li did, they should be held indefinitely, or at least for a minimum period of time.
http://www.timslaw.ca/politicans/

[Soulmagent]

Originally Posted by wfgodot

Daily Mail follows up:

Man who beheaded and cannibalised fellow passenger on Greyhound bus thought he was attacking an alien

much more, with pictures, at DM link above

God told him to kill an alien ,but that doesnt explain why he canniblised him.