Canada
Doctor asking for more freedom for Vince Li
Vince Li is shown in a Portage La Prairie, Man., court on August 5, 2008. A man found not criminally responsible for beheading a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba should have more freedoms, a psychiatrist is arguing.
Photograph by: John Woods , THE CANADIAN PRESS
On July 30, 2008, a 22-year-old man was mercilessly stabbed and beheaded after falling asleep on the bus he was riding in. Tim McLean did not know his assailant, Vince Li. Police and fellow passengers felt helpless to stop the man from continuing to mutilate the body of the carnival worker. The incident occurred close to Portage la Prairie.
Li was found not criminally responsible as a result of findings that he suffered from schizophrenia. He told the court that God told him to kill the man. He felt he was acting in self-defense and did not understand that what he was doing was wrong.
A doctor in this case has recently asked the review board to give Li more freedom. He has never been violent in the hospital, according to the doctor, and he no longer suffers from hallucinations. He has made great progress and should be allowed to have unsupervised outings.
McLean’s mother disagrees with the doctor and is working to keep Li from committing other such acts in the future.
“The crux of the problem is that in Canada, there is no legal mechanism in place that would require this individual or any others like him to continue treatment or medications after they’re released,” she said.
Schizophrenia is treatable as long as the patient remains on medication throughout his lifetime. The doctor’s ultimate goal is to re-introduce Li back into society on a full-time basis. If that were to occur, there is no way for anyone to monitor whether he is taking his medication. If he were to go off his medications for any amount of time, he could commit the same action as he did in the past. The board is taking the doctor’s request under consideration.
The board also allowed Li to be unescorted on the hospital grounds, starting at 15 minutes at a time and working up to full days.
Source:
Man who beheaded Greyhound bus passenger should get more freedom, says psychiatrist
http://www.theprovince.com/health/beheaded+Greyhound+passenger+should+more+freedom+says/9545640/story.html