WhatFinger


Vince Li stabbed Tim McLean to death, decapitated him, and cannibalized him

Infamous Greyhound Beheader to be granted escorted community strolls?



If there is a case to be made in pleading “not guilty” by reason of insanity, Vince Li likely has one. Nearly four years ago, Li, a man who had previously managed to work in a church for six months (leaving behind a relatively amicable impression on the pastor there) became one of the most gruesome and notorious murderers in Canadian history.
On July 30, 2008, Li, while travelling on a Greyhound bus, heard the “voice of God” informing him that he was in danger from a fellow but unknown passenger, Tim McLean. In a state of eerie and bizarre calm, Li sauntered to the back of the bus, produced a large knife, stabbed McLean to death, decapitated him, and cannibalized him. The incident and the subsequent standoff with police and passengers became an overnight media missive of the macabre. Canadians were understandably horrified, not only with the event itself (which turns the stomach of anyone who dares to dwell on the details), but also by the subsequent verdict: Li would be remanded to a psychiatric institution, rather than to a prison. An interesting debate on the utility and decency of being able to plead guilty by reason of insanity ensued, but few could doubt the legitimacy of the insanity itself. Unlike the modern Breivik’s of the world, Li left no manifesto in his wake, no pictures of himself posing gleefully with the eventual murder weapon, no Facebook page indicating a bizarre or twisted political agenda: no evidence, in other words, that he had deliberately spent time and energy talking himself into the act.

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A subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia only seemed to validate what any layman’s reading of the account could deduce by inference: the man is completely nuts. If insanity could ever be deemed to be a sufficient excuse for murder, he has it. With that being said, there is a reason why Li was not released back into the general public, merely ordered to visit a nearby psychiatrist and to faithfully consume his medication. Aside from the obvious presumption that a man in such a state probably needs more than independent living aided by some light therapy, the committal protects members of the general public from having their heads cut off. Importantly, it also protects them from the fear of having their heads cut off, which is a level of comfort to which Canadians, by and large, should be entitled. However, this sense of security is now being compromised for residents of Selkirk and neighbouring Winnipeg, as Li is seeks leave to take authorized strolls through the local community, supervised by a plain-clothed police officer (plain-clothed so as not to unnecessarily alarm residents, it seems) and a nurse. This request has gone unopposed by the Crown, but staunchly opposed and criticized by McLean’s mother, Carol de Delley, who is calling the notion “ironic and ridiculous”.(1) This may be an understatement. Common sense may lead us to believe that Li is indeed crazy, and that a justice system that allows crazy as a legitimate plea of non-culpability should probably consider Li to be not guilty by reason of his craziness. Common sense should then, too, lead us to conclude that no matter how much of a “robust responder”(2) he has been to his treatment, this man should not be allowed to vacate his confinement until he does so on a gurney, with a sheet dropped over his face. Cruel? Perhaps. It may seem unjust to some that a man who has been victimized by a mental illness over which he has no control should have to endure the remainder of his days behind lock and key, no matter how well he responds to his treatment, or no matter how much he attempts to atone for his gruesome act. Life can be cruel: just ask Carol de Delley. However, while Li may be unfairly victimized by a dreadful and terrifying mental illness –this is an assumption, we should note, based on very inexact science – Canadians have a right to believe that they are being protected by our authorities: by the Crown, which shamefully takes no action to oppose this madness, and leaves Carol de Delley to stand alone. Colin McComb is a part-time, Calgary based writer. Colin has been published in the Edmonton Journal, the Anglican Journal, and University Affairs magazine. (1) Canada.com: Give bus beheader Vince Li escorted trips into community, doctors urge Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press, May 15, 2012 (2) Canada.com: Give bus beheader Vince Li escorted trips into community, doctors urge Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press, May 15, 2012


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Guest Column Colin McComb -- Bio and Archives

Items of notes and interest from the web.


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