WEDNESDAY JULY 30, 2008
The mass email arrived at 9:21 p.m. from one of my editors at the Free Press, Helen Fallding. The subject line read “Homicide Volunteer.”
“Someone decapitated on a Greyhound on highway past Portage la Prairie. Suspect barricaded inside the bus,” it began. Helen explained that a reporter and photographer were on their way out to the scene from Winnipeg. But that this was clearly an all-hands-on-deck type of situation. “Anyone willing to head out there and help out?” she concluded.
My immediate reaction was that this must be some kind of a mistake. There was no possible way this could be true. Perhaps it was the result of some prankster phoning the newsroom, or some bizarre news tip. But a quick phone call to the news desk revealed it was deadly serious. The police scanner was buzzing with news of an incredible crime unfolding in the middle of the Prairies.
Naturally, the initial instinct as a justice reporter was to rush out there to cover it. But there was just one little problem: I was more than 700 kilometres away, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on vacation with my family. It would be a couple days before I returned home and found myself immersed in the case that quickly made international headlines.
Years later, it remains the story I am asked to talk about most often. But words are often difficult to come by. It was an unspeakable tragedy on many, many levels.
TUESDAY AUGUST 5, 2008
He swayed back and forth, staring blankly at the floor and responding to a series of questions with audible grunts and sudden jerks of his head—up and down in the affirmative, side to side in the negative. The heavily shackled man showed no visible reaction as the Crown attorney read aloud some of the facts of his alleged crimes, even while some courtroom spectators gasped.
And then, quickly and quietly, he spoke for the first time. “Please kill me,” Vince Li, 40, said inside the packed courtroom in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.
Provincial court Judge Michel Chartier had heard and seen enough. Chartier agreed with the Crown’s request to order a forensic psychological assessment for Li, saying there appeared to be serious mental health issues that could affect whether the Chinese immigrant was fit to stand trial. Li was facing a second-degree murder charge for what seemed impossible to comprehend: The decapitation killing and cannibalization of a complete stranger, 22-year-old Tim McLean, on board a Greyhound bus. The unprovoked slaying of the Winnipeg carnival worker just days earlier had prompted an outpouring of grief and outrage.
Dr. Frank Vattheur was set to meet with Li to try to get information to form an expert opinion that would determine if, or how, the case would proceed. If Vattheur ruled Li wasn’t fit to stand trial, that would effectively end the matter. Li would be sent indefinitely to a mental-health facility and held until, or unless, he was ever deemed ready to appreciate the legal process. The court case would resume at that point. If found fit to stand trial, the next issue would be whether Li was criminally responsible for his actions. Vattheur planned to submit an opinion on that issue as well. A finding of “not criminally responsible” would result in Li going to a hospital instead of prison. His release would be in the hands of medical professionals who would have the option of keeping him locked up and in treatment as long as they deemed necessary.
Crown attorney Joyce Dalmyn revealed full details about the circumstances surrounding McLean’s killing. She did so at the invitation of Chartier, who wanted to know what her grounds were for seeking a forensic assessment. They weren’t for the faint of heart.
Li had been exhibiting “bizarre and unusual behaviour” in recent weeks and months, including taking sudden bus trips to various cities in Canada for no apparent reason, Dalmyn said. Li had worked in the automotive department at an Edmonton Wal-Mart and delivered newspapers and flyers. The last day he was seen at work was Monday, July 28, two days before the deadly assault. His wife told an employer he had an “emergency” in Winnipeg and was coming for a job interview.
Dalmyn told court Li attacked a sleeping McLean for absolutely no reason as the Greyhound bus travelled down the Trans-Canada Highway near Portage la Prairie, stabbing him as many as 40 times while 36 horrified passengers looked on. He got McLean on the floor and then sat on top of him in the aisle of the bus, stabbing away with a large hunting knife, court was told. A passenger called 911 while the Greyhound driver pulled over at the side of the highway, allowing all the passengers to flee. The driver then locked the bus with just Li and a mortally wounded McLean inside.
Police rushed to the scene and surrounded the bus. Officers watched in horror as Li began carrying around McLean’s severed head and appeared to be taunting them with it, court was told. Li said nothing to police, except to tell them at one point, “I have to stay on this bus forever,” Dalmyn said. At one point, Li began cutting other body parts off McLean and was seen to consume some of them, she said. There were audible gasps in the packed courtroom at this revelation, including from several members of McLean’s family.
“He appeared to be focused on his victim. He did not appear to be drunk or high,” Dalmyn said. “This was a completely random attack. There’s been no link established [between Li and McLean].”
Police elected not to storm the bus, waiting until Li smashed out a window and tossed a bloody knife and scissors towards them. He then jumped from the broken window, cutting his hand on the shards of glass, and was arrested, Dalmyn said. Police searched him and found several severed body parts, including an ear, nose and partial mouth, inside a plastic bag in his pocket. Police tried to interview Li but he refused to make verbal responses. However, he did softly mutter that he was “guilty” at least four times, Dalmyn said.
He had arrived from China in 2001 and found a home in Winnipeg, surrounded by a loving wife and caring members of the community who quickly took him under their wing. He soon found a job, vastly improved his English and enjoyed socializing with new friends at Sunday-morning church services, dinner parties and trips out to Falcon Lake. On the outside, life appeared to be very good for the new Canadian. Yet those who got to know Vince Li well soon recognized that beneath his friendly, polite exterior lurked something very troubling. “He was kind of a lost soul. It was as if he was always looking for something,” said a member of a Winnipeg family which befriended Li—even having him over for Christmas dinner two years ago.
The woman and her family requested anonymity, not wanting to be deluged by other media covering the story. They were reeling over news of what Li had done. They had long suspected Li was battling mental illness, but he had refused repeated offers to see a doctor and get help.
“I think, in their culture, [the issue of mental illness] is kind of frowned upon,” the woman said. She works in the mental health field and said it was obvious Li was struggling. “He was definitely schizophrenic, probably paranoid schizophrenic,” she said. “He needed help but he just wouldn’t get it.”
There was the constant paranoia, a feeling that he was always being watched and that others might be out to get him. There were his bizarre, rambling stories that seemed to come out of nowhere. And there were the unannounced bus trips that would catch his wife by surprise—such as the time he hopped on a Greyhound headed to The Pas, later explaining that he wanted to look at some land he was thinking about buying.
“I don’t think he actually had any money. This was probably just a symptom of his disease,” the woman said. She recalled an unusual conversation with Li shortly after he got a red-light ticket in Winnipeg. “He started talking about how ‘they were after me, there was nothing there,’ “ the woman said.
Li’s illness soon began taking a toll on his marriage. He and his common-law wife Anna found a home in the Osborne Village area of Winnipeg shortly after coming to Canada. He got hired as a forklift driver with Midland Foods on Nairn Avenue, while she began working several waitressing jobs at Chinese-food restaurants in the city. The couple began occasionally attending church services at the Grant Memorial Baptist Church, which opened the door to other social opportunities. Li worked at the church and its attached schoolhouse as a night custodian for a time.
The woman said her father and stepmother took a liking to the couple and began having them over for dinner and, eventually, for visits to their Whiteshell cottage. “He was always a little bit quiet, kind of reserved. I think that’s because he was self-conscious about his English,” she said. However, Li eventually warmed up to the family. “We’d play cards together, dominoes, games like that,” she said. But things took a turn about two years ago when Li suddenly left his wife and went to Edmonton. The woman said it was clear Li’s wife was frustrated by her husband’s erratic behaviour. She stayed behind in Winnipeg—continuing to work various jobs—but recently moved to Edmonton where Li had found work.
Members of Grant Memorial church had recently spoken with Li, apparently concerned about how he and his wife were doing. However, nobody predicted things would reach such a crisis point and climax in one of the country’s grisliest murder cases.
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 6, 2008
It’s located on the eastern edge of downtown Edmonton beside an elementary school, a sprawling two-tower high-rise that provides a spectacular view of the Saskatchewan River. The 20 floors of the north tower of Boardwalk Centre host a mix of residents, mostly seniors on the lower floors, low-income earners on assisted living above. The south tower, with a view of Commonwealth Stadium, had been a frequent home to players with the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos. But these days, nobody living in Boardwalk Centre was talking about football stars. All the buzz has been about the residents of suite 1612.
Vince Li and Anna had moved into the block about four months earlier—around the time Anna was believed to have come to Edmonton from Winnipeg to rejoin her estranged partner. Li was often seen by residents enjoying the swimming pool on the fourth floor. He would engage neighbours in short conversations during elevator rides.
“I remember one time, around June, we just talked about the weather, how nice it was,” said Scott Arnold, who also lived on the 16th floor. “It seemed like he was keeping real weird hours, sometimes I’d see or hear him coming and going in the middle of the night.”
Sightings of Anna were less frequent. And she rarely spoke to anyone in the building. “She seemed rather shy,” said Arnold. Just days after her partner was accused of one of the most sadistic murders in Canadian history, Anna was seen leaving her suite with a man believed to be a police officer. “She was wearing all black, with black sunglasses and a baseball cap. She was carrying a backpack,” said Arnold.
He cheerfully wishes people a “wonderful day” at the end of his personal cellphone message. And yet it was becoming clear life was anything but wonderful for Vince Li, especially in the weeks preceding his attack on Tim McLean. His Edmonton employer, Vincent Augert, described how Li attracted attention at a recent company picnic with erratic behaviour that may have been a disturbing sign of things to come. Li was one of about 250 newspaper carries who showed up for the annual summer thank-you event on June 29—just a month before the deadly attack.
Augert caught Li standing alone near a newspaper vending machine that was being used as a target for a children’s game that day. Li was hunched over, a blank look on his face, tilting his head and staring into the empty machine. “It was very strange. He was looking at it the way you’d expect a three-year-old would do,” Augert recalled. “I went up to him and said ‘Vince, it’s just a newspaper vending machine. You know, you put money in it and get papers’.” Li continued to display a childlike wonderment. Augert moved on, greeting others at the party, while Li quietly slipped away and left shortly after. Was it a sign of a serious mental illness, which some who knew Li have suggested he suffered from?
Augert said the incident was the first time he started wondering about Li’s mindset. Until then, he’d been a model employee known for being efficient, well-dressed and able to juggle multiple paper routes without confusion. The two men would often meet for coffee at McDonald’s—Li’s choice—where he would always order a small coffee, black. Augert would offer to buy him food but Li always declined. “He was a good guy, I respected him, he respected me,” said Augert.
He spoke with Li’s wife by telephone after the man failed to show up for work during the previous week. Anna seemed confused by what was happening and made no mention during their last conversation on July 31 about the tragedy that had unfolded the night before. She just said Li had an emergency in Winnipeg but that she hadn’t heard from him. Augert told her he would drop Li’s July paycheque off at their downtown high-rise apartment. That cheque was now in the hands of police, who interviewed Augert about his involvement with Li.
“They’re kinda stumped, to tell you the truth, as to why he would do that,” he said.
Several patrons of an Edmonton casino said that Li was often seen gambling at the establishment—usually playing card games. Augert said Li would have only been making about $800 per month—before taxes—but wasn’t surprised to hear he may have been gambling some of it away.
THURSDAY AUGUST 7, 2008
They had suffered in private while the entire world reacted in shock to their son’s death. But now, on the eve of a funeral that threatened to turn into a three-ring circus, the parents of Tim McLean broke their silence. Carol and Tim deDelley, the mother and stepfather of the 22-year-old man, wanted to clear the air—especially with word that some members of the US-based Westboro Baptist Church were threatening to crash the service.
“I hope, however the funeral goes down, it’s done with respect to Tim, that we are allowed to lay him to rest,” said Tim deDelley. He said the days since learning of McLean’s death had been a blur. “We’re trying to deal what with happened here. We haven’t even had a chance to mourn yet,” he said.
Carol deDelley said she was frustrated by much of what has been written and said about her son’s death—from sensational headlines and gory details to bogus claims made about the circumstances of the unprovoked killing. DeDelley also felt some people had been critical of the family’s silence while so many others have been grieving publicly. “I haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth. And I need to honour my son in this way [by speaking out],” she said.
The couple said they were taking a “wait-and-see” approach to the case against Vince Li. And they were refusing to get caught up in the furor that had seen Internet chat rooms filled with uninformed commentary and several special-interest groups try and capitalize on the tragedy for their own personal gain. They planned to follow the court proceedings closely but didn’t want to make any comments on Li at this time. They described McLean, known to his friends as Timmy, as a “free spirit” with a big heart and passion for travelling the country while working at various summer fairs and carnivals.
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2008
After weeks of relative silence, family members of Tim McLean were making quite the statement. A sweeping lawsuit had now been filed in which they condemned the actions of the federal government, RCMP and Greyhound following the killing of their son. They were seeking a total of $170,000 in general damages plus additional costs from the named parties but insist this has nothing to do with money.
“It’s about accountability, responsibility for what happened to their son. It’s about getting answers, so that his death might not be a total waste, that there might be some good to come from it,” the family’s lawyer, Jay Prober, told a packed news conference.
The McLean family didn’t attend in person because they were too upset, he said. Prober and his colleague, Norman Boudreau, said the family “agonized” over the decision to go after the RCMP but ultimately decided it must be done. Their main source of concern was why police stood around the bus for nearly five hours while the killer beheaded, dismembered and cannibalized McLean in full view. They never stormed the bus, and the standoff only ended when suspect Vince Li tried to escape by jumping through a smashed window.
“How could this incident be allowed to continue for so long?” asked Prober. “We’re told by the family they’re not getting answers” from police. According to the statement of claim, “the RCMP failed to adhere to proper and established arresting procedures required by law... and knew or ought to have known that their acts and conduct amounted to a wanton disregard and/or total repudiation of the statutory duties incumbent upon members of the RCMP.” By not taking action sooner, police “caused irreparable damage and injury” to the McLean family, “thereby allowing [the killer] to defile the body of the deceased.”
The family was also taking aim at the Government of Canada, the minister of public safety and the minister of public health, saying they clearly failed in their duty to provide a safe environment for passengers on board that ill-fated bus. “You can go on a bus carrying a knife... but you can’t get on an airplane with one,” said Boudreau, saying proper regulation of bus safety is clearly needed. “People who take the bus are people who can’t afford to take the plane. Why are these people subjected to having their safety being put in danger? Everyone should be offered the same security and safety. When is the Government of Canada going to put an end to this?”
They cited six other Greyhound incidents of violence—three from the past 18 months—which ought to have raised alarm bells. “It is clear that [the government] omitted and continues to omit putting in place safety regulations to ensure that similar violent incidents would be prevented,” the lawsuit states. The family was making similar allegations against Calgary-based Greyhound Transportation Inc., which had repeatedly gone on record to say bus travel was safe. Prober said the fact a person can easily walk onto a bus with a hunting knife and attack a fellow passenger without any warning or provocation suggests that’s not true.
The lawsuit claimed Greyhound had failed to install proper security measures such as metal detectors and bag checks and failed to provide adequate training to employees regarding passenger safety. Prober said the claim by Greyhound that such a system isn’t feasible “doesn’t wash” with the McLean family. “Hopefully Greyhound will be held accountable,” he said. Prober said the family had talked about using the money to start up a scholarship in McLean’s name.
MONDAY OCTOBER 6, 2008
It was being described as a significant transformation that had occurred while being lodged at a Winnipeg psychiatric ward. And now a medical expert was saying Vince Li fully understood his legal situation and was fit to stand trial.
“We are quite confident in his ability to instruct counsel,” defence lawyer Gordon Bates told court. Doctors agreed Li clearly understood how the court system worked, the role of the various lawyers, the charge he faced and the potential consequences. With Li’s current mental health no longer in question, the focus now turned to whether he should face criminal sanctions for the death of McLean.
“That’s really the sole issue in this case,” defence lawyer Alan Libman said outside court. “If someone commits an offence while suffering a disease of the mind and they don’t know their actions are wrong, they can’t be held criminally responsible.”
Li did not appear in court but was said to be fully co-operating with his lawyers and officials at the PX3 ward at the Health Sciences Centre, where he had been held since early August. “Obviously now he’s talking,” said Bates. Li had also agreed to medication, he said.
Dr. Stanley Yaren has submitted a detailed report on Li’s mental state following two months of intensive evaluation. Libman told court there had been no definitive finding with regards to an opinion on whether Li could be held criminally responsible. “We want him to get a fair trial, don’t want to affect a potential jury pool,” Libman said in explaining the need for public secrecy at this point. “This should be litigated in court and not the court of public opinion,” said Libman.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 9, 2008
Carol deDelley was planning to fight all the way to Ottawa to ensure Li never tasted freedom again. Her calls for a “Tim’s Law”—tough new anti-crime legislation that would also honour her son—had sparked a flurry of public debate. DeDelley said she believed that “if you voluntarily take an innocent life like what was done here, you should forfeit your own.” She said in cases where there was absolutely “no doubt” about guilt, a murderer should either be executed or at least get life in prison, with no chance of parole.
“All I am attempting to do is bring awareness that our current laws leave huge gaps in public safety and are in need of amendment. Eventually, for my sake, I will have to forgive Mr. Li’s horrific actions against my beautiful and loving son, Tim, and that forgiveness will be the next most difficult thing I will encounter in my life,” she said. “In the meanwhile, however, I cannot just remain quiet and say or do nothing for fear that one day Mr. Li is released into society and tragically repeats what he has demonstrated he is capable of doing. Mr. Li should be medically and psychologically treated so as to remain aware of what he did to another human being and that is his punishment. But at the same time, he needs to be kept away from society because he is dangerous, as he has most graphically proven.”
DeDelley said it was outrageous her son’s killer would have the chance for freedom again, and she was angry there were no provisions in Canadian law to ensure the most dangerous criminals were at least guaranteed to be locked up forever.
TUESDAY MARCH 3, 2009
It was a mere formality at this point: Vince Li was going to be found not criminally responsible for his actions. Medical experts who had spent months examining Li on behalf of both the Crown and the defence had come to the same conclusion. Now the public was getting to go inside Li’s brain as his high-profile trial began with the inevitable conclusion just days away.
Dr. Stanley Yaren told court he believed Li had a very strong chance to recover from the major mental illness and extreme psychosis that triggered the unprovoked killing of Tim McLean. He described Li as an otherwise “decent person” who was suffering from untreated schizophrenia and clearly out of his mind when he believed he was acting on God’s commands to eliminate “the force of evil” by attacking the sleeping victim.
“He was being tormented by auditory hallucinations,” said Yaren. “He believed Mr. McLean was a force of evil and was about to execute him. He had to act fast, urgently, to save himself. This wasn’t an innocent bystander or stranger he chose to kill, but rather an evil force he was commanded to kill. “
Li, wearing handcuffs and leg shackles, shuffled into the room led by several sheriff’s officers, and was placed in the prisoner’s box. He sat motionless, wearing a dark suit jacket, slacks and a light-coloured dress shirt.
“He didn’t understand, in my opinion, that he was just killing an innocent bystander. He understood this was the only action he could take,” Yaren told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice John Scurfield. Once McLean was obviously dead from dozens of stab wounds to the back and chest, Li continued to hear voices demanding he attack the body, Yaren said.
“He was terrified, frightened, tormented. Mr. Li’s fear, because of what he was being told through these hallucinated voices, is that what he perceived to be the evil being would come back to life, through some supernatural powers and finish him off. He was in a frenzy to prevent this from happening,” said Yaren. He said Li had been co-operative and made significant strides since being hospitalized and medicated and could function again in the community—something Yaren admitted didn’t sit well with most people, including the victim’s family. “I completely understand the need for a sense of justice, of retribution. It would be in some sense easier if Mr. Li was an anti-social psychopath with a history of malicious behaviour, but he isn’t that. He is, as I’ve come to know him, a decent person. He is as much a victim of this horrendous illness... as Mr. McLean was a victim. Don’t hate the person. Hate the illness.”
Yaren conceded Li’s actions could not have been predicted, given that he had no prior criminal record or a violent history. Yaren described him as polite, humble and hard-working and not a “monstrous psychopath.” “The man I described, without psychosis, would have had no reason to [kill McLean],” he said. He said Li began experiencing psychotic episodes around 2003, including a 2005 incident where he was picked up by police walking down Highway 401 in Ontario, believing he was “following the sun” after shedding most of his possessions. He was briefly hospitalized in Etobicoke, Ont., but received no follow-up after refusing to accept he had an illness or take any treatment, court was told. Yaren said there remained a stigma with mental illness that was difficult to overcome, especially for men.
“Our society as a whole doesn’t have a lot of tolerance for people with a severe mental illness,” he said. Yaren said Li was slowly beginning to realize what he’s done but still didn’t accept the fact he consumed some of McLean’s body parts. “It may be he’s blocked it from his consciousness... that it’s just too awful for him to contemplate,” he said. Yaren believed Li could make a significant recovery in the next few years under rigorous treatment and medication but was still suffering some delusions, including a belief he would one day be executed. “He is not 100 per cent out of his psychotic phase yet,” he said. “But over time, as he recovers, he will have to come to terms with the awful things that have occurred.”
He boarded the Greyhound bus in Edmonton just after midnight, leaving a note in the apartment he shared with his wife. “I’m gone. Don’t look for me. I wish you were happy,” Vince Li wrote, according to testimony heard 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, Manitoba. He would spend the next 24 hours in the small town, most of the time sleeping and sitting on a park bench. Li also sold and burned many of his possessions. Li called Anna around 6 a.m. on July 30 but made little sense. “He was talking to her about the Yellow River in China,” Crown attorney Joyce Dalmyn told court. Some of the conversation was in English, the rest in Mandarin. Li told Anna he would return home once he “set up.”
He boarded the daily Thunder Bay-bound Greyhound that passed through Erickson later that afternoon, taking a seat near the front. A woman who got on with him later told police she thought Li was acting “agitated, somewhat distraught” while waiting for it to arrive.
“He was pacing back and forth, talking to himself in Chinese,” said Dalmyn.
On the same bus as Li was Winnipeg resident Tim McLean, who was making his way home following a summer stint on the Canadian carnival circuit. At some point, police believe McLean smiled at Li and may have said a friendly “Hello.” Following a rest stop outside of Brandon, Li moved to the back of the bus and sat down in an empty seat beside McLean, who was sleeping and listening to an iPod. Just west of Portage la Prairie, Li attacked McLean without provocation.
WEDNESDAY MARCH 4, 2009
Carol deDelley was prepared to watch her son’s killer walk out of court headed for a hospital, not a prison cell. But the grieving mother was vowing to do everything possible to ensure Vince Li never experienced freedom again.
“I am absolutely terrified of him and his capabilities. I think he’d do it again,” deDelley said after hearing a second straight day of disturbing court testimony. “I’m going to fight to keep everyone safe from him. “If it means going [to court] every year, I’ll go every year. Instead of birthday parties, it’ll be NCR hearings.” DeDelley accepted the fact Li was mentally ill, especially after hearing testimony from two forensic psychiatrists. She also recognized an inevitable conclusion to the case.
“This is as close to beyond a reasonable doubt as you can get. There’s no contradictory evidence here,” Li’s lawyer, Alan Libman, told Queen’s Bench Justice John Scurfield during a brief closing argument.
Prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn said her department had a duty to raise the issue of criminal responsibility even though it is controversial with the public. “Almost every member of the public has said ‘That guy is crazy, he needs to be locked up,’” she said. “The Crown can’t ask this court to convict Li of second-degree murder when all evidence points to him being not criminally responsible. He was not able to appreciate the nature of his actions due to his delusional thinking. He was not able to determine right from wrong.”
Dalmyn said it was also obvious Li was not close to being ready for release back into the community. “It’s clear from the evidence called... Mr. Li, at this point and time, does pose a risk to the public and himself,” she said.
Dr. Jonathan Rootenberg, a forensic psychiatrist who met with Li at the request of his lawyers, told court that he believed Li didn’t know what he was doing on board the Greyhound bus. “He certainly didn’t know it was wrong. He was quite psychotic during that time period,” Rootenberg said. He said Li likely didn’t view McLean as a human being as he attacked him. “He viewed the unfortunate victim as a demon. He believes it wasn’t his hands doing that, but it was God’s hands, through him.”
He called Li a good candidate for treatment because he didn’t have any history of substance abuse or anti-social disorders, which were often psychotic triggers for people who have schizophrenia. Rootenberg added that Li had responded well to medical treatment and therapy but would always have to be watched closely to protect against a relapse. “He is in the very early stages of being treated. He definitely represents a significant risk at this point,” he said.
THURSDAY MARCH 5, 2009
Some had called for the return of the death penalty. Others had advocated something even worse. But in the end, a Manitoba judge said there was only one outcome to the tragic Greyhound murder case.
“Clearly there is a logical reason for the law, and indeed for society, to distinguish between persons who are sane and those who are not,” Justice John Scurfield said as he found Vince Li not criminally responsible. “Persons who are profoundly ill do not have the mental capacity to intentionally commit a crime. The goal of criminal law is to punish criminals, not persons who have a severe mental illness,” he said.
Li showed no emotion at the verdict and was quietly led away by sheriff’s officers.
“These grotesque acts are appalling. However, the acts themselves and the context in which they were committed are strongly suggestive of a mental disorder. He did not appreciate the actions he committed were morally wrong. He believed he was acting in self-defence,” said Scurfield. The judge said he believed Li still posed a “significant” risk to reoffend if he were to be quickly released or stop taking his medication. “No doubt that factor, together with Mr. Li’s history of extreme violence, will weigh heavily on any future application for release from a secure institution,” he said. Li would now be housed in a secure mental health facility indefinitely to continue treatment for schizophrenia.
“He is getting away with murder,” McLean’s older sister, Vana Smart, told said outside court. “He’ll never have a criminal record. After the review board decides that he can be medically managed in the community, he can get a job in a daycare. He can cross the border. He’ll never have this stigma attached to him... He will be able to pursue his life as he pleases.”
The victim’s father, Tim McLean Sr., proudly showed off a tattoo on his chest of his son’s face and the words “Tim McLean Forever Loved.” “Knowing that the killer might get out sometime soon is very hard. This isn’t the right result. We’ll do what we can to ensure nobody gets hurt again,” he said.
Vince Li claimed it was inner turmoil that triggered him to briefly get off a Greyhound bus in western Manitoba only to resume his journey 24 hours later and brutally kill an innocent passenger he believed was an “evil force.” Now, the young man who encountered the mentally ill Li in the community of Erickson was again thankful he escaped unharmed.
Darren Beatty, 15, said he was stunned by the evidence that emerged during Li’s trial. “Now that I look back... that’s pretty scary,” said Beatty.
Li claimed God began commanding him to burn and sell many of his possessions—including a laptop computer he was carrying.
“I thought he was just hard up for money. I didn’t realize he wanted to get rid of all his things,” Beatty said.
Beatty first spotted Li during the evening of July 29 as he bicycled by, then again on the morning of July 30 on his way to work as a gas jockey at a local gas station. During his coffee break, Beatty eyed the computer lying out for sale. Li had placed it on the sidewalk with a sign saying $600 O.B.O. Beatty proposed paying just $100 for the laptop, then $50. Li said he wanted at least $70, but then dropped his price down to $60.
“Now that I look back, he was changing his mind really fast, from $600 down to $60,” said Beatty, who went to a local bank, withdrew cash and returned to Li to buy the computer. Li shook his hand, and the deal was done. Li also tried to sell him a computer bag for $35, but ultimately gave it to him for free when the teen said he didn’t have any more money. Beatty went home and realized he didn’t have the password to open the computer. He returned to the bench and got it from Li, who told him if he had any other problems to come back and talk to him. Beatty learned of the crime the following day when RCMP officers who were retracing Li’s steps found out about the computer sale and seized it from him.
Beatty said the computer contained resumes with the name Vince Weiguang Li at the top. There were also photos of fighter jets and female Chinese models, he said. The laptop contained school schedules, job resumes, emails written in Chinese and innocuous nature photos. Beatty was surprised to hear in court that Li had the murder weapon on him the entire time after purchasing it from a Canadian Tire store in Edmonton, apparently under God’s orders. Beatty never saw the knife and said he’s tried to not ponder what could have been. “I don’t really want to think about it too much,” he said.
MONDAY JUNE 1, 2009
It was the first step on his journey back into society. But fears that Vince Li could taste freedom almost immediately were quickly put to rest at his first annual review board hearing. Dr. Stanley Yaren told the provincial panel Li was still a risk to the public, and himself, and should be locked up indefinitely at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. “I’m advocating the highest level of security possible,” Yaren said in the much-anticipated placement hearing to determine Li’s immediate future. “Not because I see him as an imminent risk, but because he hasn’t been tested in a less-restrictive environment. He has been functioning in an extremely controlled and regimented environment.” Yaren was the only witness called to testify.
The review board on his case had three options—immediately release Li into the community with no conditions, grant him a conditional discharge or keep him in a secured mental health facility.
Yaren said that Li had not had any “active psychotic symptoms” for the past 12 weeks. He was also willingly taking his medication and had shown some remorse for his crime, especially after hearing victim impact statements read aloud by his lawyers. “He was quite affected. We spent time with him over the weekend to ensure he was coping,” said Yaren. “Now his thought processes are organized. He is no longer tormented by voices and he is beginning to understand what his illness is all about.”
He said Li’s typical day included plenty of quiet reading in his room, including a Chinese Bible he requested shortly after he was admitted. Li also enjoyed playing cards and watching movies. Yaren warned board members that Li would always be at risk for a relapse, regardless of treatment. And he said a psychotic episode “could be” as severe as the one he experienced while killing McLean.
McLean’s mother, Carol deDelley, struggled to keep her composure as she read her statement aloud. “My heart completely shattered and I ached to the core of my soul,” deDelley said about her son’s death. She constantly thinks of the gory details and how “my son’s lifeless head with vacant eyes was being tossed around that bus” by Li. Other family members, including McLean’s stepmother and uncle, described a “waking nightmare” and ongoing trauma they were experiencing.
The Greyhound bus driver, Bruce Martin, filed a statement that was read aloud by his lawyer. He had not returned to work and said he constantly thinks about the horror he witnessed and the impact on McLean’s family. “Sometimes I feel gut-wrenching pain,” he wrote.
MONDAY MAY 30, 2011
It was two years later. And Vince Li was being described as a model patient making such rapid progress that his treatment team was recommending extended privileges that would eventually include escorted leaves outside the Selkirk Mental Health Centre.
“The treatment team has had absolutely no difficulties,” Dr. Steven Kremer said at the third annual review board hearing. He said Li knows that going off his meds would “make him vulnerable to the deterioration of his schizophrenia.”
There had been no breaches by Li with the previous year’s ruling that saw him receiving outdoor passes twice daily from his locked forensic unit to walk on hospital grounds, provided there was a 3:1 ratio of supervision.
The decision was not without controversy and had prompted the provincial government to make several security upgrades, including designating 11 of the mental health centre’s security people as special constables following 40 hours of special training and other requirements. Two special constables and a health centre staffer were required to accompany Li on his walks. The centre also had installed $400,000 in security equipment upgrades, including more video surveillance and access controls throughout the property. Kremer was now suggesting a 2:1 ration of supervision, which would gradually give way to 1:1. Kremer said Li would then be allowed to participate in group outings on the grounds of Selkirk in which one staff member would supervise three patients at a time. The next step would be escorted passes out of the facility.
MONDAY MAY 14, 2012
Forget the short, supervised strolls on hospital grounds. Vince Li was about to take his biggest leap yet as he made his fourth annual appearance before the Criminal Code review board. His treatment team was now making two major recommendations, neither of which the Crown opposed.
The first proposal involved giving Li extended privileges within the Selkirk facility, based on the rapid progress he was making while receiving medical care. In the past year, he had been allowed passes out of his locked forensic unit to walk on hospital grounds under the direct supervision of a peace officer. Now, doctors say he was doing so well with the daily 60-to-90-minute walks, he should be allowed general supervision like any other patient at the hospital.
The second proposal involved allowing Li to take 30-minute excursions within Selkirk away from the hospital, provided he was accompanied at all times by a peace officer and a nurse. His doctors said those passes could be extended by up to 15 minutes a week, provided there were no incidents and he continued to make great strides. The community would not be given any notice about where or when he would be let out. In fact, his doctors suggested the accompanying peace officers be allowed to wear ordinary clothes to avoid drawing attention to Li.
DeDelley attended this latest hearing wearing a white T-shirt bearing her slain son’s photo. She said it now seemed inevitable Li would regain his full freedom in the near future and called it “ironic and ridiculous” that the mental health system that failed to properly protect society from Li was now recommending he slowly be reintegrated into society. “Letting him go puts the rest of the public at risk,” she said.
Li’s treating psychiatrist, Dr. Steven Kremer, told the review board Li was still on medication and experiencing no symptoms or hallucinations. He had been diagnosed as having a 0.8 per cent chance of violently reoffending in the next seven years, according to risk assessments done on him. “The privileges being asked for... would not place the public at high risk,” Kremer told the board. “He has done very well. He has been a robust responder. He understands if he were not to take his medication, he would experience a deterioration.”
Li had improved his English and taken several occupational therapy programs, including job training and meal preparation. Crown attorney Susan Helenchilde said she had no grounds to oppose the recommendations.
“The Crown may not be opposed, but I certainly am,” deDelley said.
MONDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2014
Another year—and another major step. It was time to loosen the reins. That was the opinion of Vince Li’s treatment team at his sixth annual review board hearing. Three key recommendations were made, and ultimately accepted by the panel. Li would now be allowed unescorted passes into the city of Selkirk, on an incremental basis. Currently, Li had allowed off-site only while escorted. He had taken more than 100 such leaves into Selkirk without incident, the court heard. Li would be allowed more relaxed escorted passes into Winnipeg. Currently, Li must be given one-to-one supervision. Dr. Steven Kremer recommended Li be placed under “general supervision,” which would be one worker for every three patients. Li would be moved from a locked facility at Selkirk into a more relaxed, unlocked facility.
As usual, the Crown wasn’t objecting to the recommendations. “Mr. Li has done everything that’s been asked of him,” prosecutor Susan Helenchilde told court. She conceded her department is in a difficult position given it represents the public and Li’s actions were so brutal. “This is one of the most ghoulish tragedies in Canadian history,” she said. However, Helenchilde conceded Li’s best interests must be considered following his not-criminally responsible finding in court.
Kremer said Li knew the importance of taking his medications for schizophrenia and had shown great insight into what triggered the attack. Kremer said the only security concern as Li ventured out into the community was that some member of the public might attack him.
The Vince Li case had left the courtroom and entered the political arena. The federal government had recently introduced Bill C-54, the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, in response to Li’s case. The bill would create a new category of high-risk offenders who couldn’t be considered for release until a court agreed to revoke the designation. They would be individuals deemed an “unmanageable” risk in the community. They would not have a review of their status for three years, would not be given unescorted passes and would only get escorted passes under narrow circumstances. The law would make public safety the main consideration in such cases and ensure victims would be notified when the offender is released. The law could also be applied retroactively.
Advocates said the bill further stigmatized the mentally ill, incorrectly suggested the likelihood of reoffending was connected to the brutality of the crime and made people unnecessarily afraid of those who had a mental illness.
Federal Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney slammed the review board’s 2014 decision and defended Bill C-54 in a news release. “The provincial decision to grant Mr. Li unescorted trips around town is an insult to Tim McLean, the man he beheaded and cannibalized. Canadians expect that their justice system will keep them safe from high-risk individuals,” the release said.
The case further entered the political arena when Manitoba MP Shelly Glover and the Manitoba government took turns swiping at each other about Li’s status. Glover blasted the provincial Crown attorney’s office for not objecting to enhanced freedoms for Li. In an unusual move, Glover called for Justice Minister Andrew Swan to file a legal appeal of his department’s own position on the controversial matter.
“The decision by the Manitoba government not to object to any of the recommendations made to grant Vince Li additional freedoms, including unescorted trips into Selkirk, is an insult not only to the family of Tim McLean but to all law-abiding Manitobans. Our Conservative government is firmly calling on the province of Manitoba to immediately appeal this insensitive decision,” Glover wrote in a news release that was distributed to media by the Prime Minister’s Office, indicating it had approval at the highest level of government. Glover’s demand drew a quick response from the province, which accused her of “playing politics” with a serious matter.
Dave Chomiak, speaking on behalf of Justice Minister Andrew Swan, said a provincial attorney general could not intervene in a review board decision. Chomiak, a former Manitoba attorney general, said the province had sent two letters to the federal government urging it to change the Criminal Code to make public safety the paramount issue in these types of cases. “Shelly Glover could easily go down the hallway, talk to her colleague in the cabinet [federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay] and have the law changed, as we recommended,” he told reporters. “They have not changed this law. It is their responsibility to do so.”
Then Glover issued a terse response to Chomiak. “The people of Manitoba deserve better protection. Unlike the Manitoba government, which has not lifted a finger while Mr. Li was released onto the streets of Selkirk, our Conservative government has moved to amend the law to protect Canadians from dangerous offenders found not criminally responsible,” her statement said.
Chomiak said he understood some members of the public might be concerned. “If you’re going grocery shopping at Sobeys or at Superstore in Selkirk, and you were to encounter him [Li], you would feel unsure of yourself,” he said.
It was another bitterly cold day in the winter of 2014 —one of the nastiest in Manitoba history. But the small group of men inside the Selkirk Bowling Centre didn’t seem very concerned about the weather outside. Or anything else for that matter. There were plenty of smiles and laughs and mutual encouragement as the group of about six took turns picking up the ball, setting up and firing it down the lane. The cheers were just as loud when it knocked over a few pins as they were when it ended up in the gutter. A competitive men’s bowling league this wasn’t. The main objective was clearly having fun.
The facility was mostly empty, save for a couple of staff members from the Selkirk Mental Health Centre who were here to supervise this public outing. I’d also made my way inside and stood near the shoe rental counter, making small chat with the lone adult female employee. I’d come here acting on a tip to our newsroom and was trying to be as subtle as possible, telling the woman I was interested in rates for booking a children’s birthday party. In reality I was looking for someone. And it only took a few seconds before I found him.
Vince Li was seated on the bench, patiently waiting his turn. He was on one of his regular escorted leaves, a low-key affair that residents of Selkirk were oblivious to. Li looked a lot more relaxed than all of the times I’d seen him in court. It’s hard to believe this was the same man I watched years earlier say “Please Kill Me” in court, the same man responsible for the horrors that occurred on the Greyhound nearly six years earlier. According to medical experts, it wasn’t. Only time will tell if the public ever accepts that.
Meanwhile, the tragic fallout of this case continues, in ways perhaps we never would have imagined. RCMP Cpl. Ken Barker, who was one of the first police officers on the scene that night, took his own life in July 2014. Family members say he’d struggled for years with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the 51-year-old saw plenty of awful things during nearly two decades of police work, his wife said the Li case was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” Barker had been unable to cope with what he encountered on the Greyhound. And it only got worse as the years went on.
In Barker’s memory, family members asked for tax deductible donations to be sent to either the RCMP Foundation (http://rcmp-f.ca/pub/donate) which supports families of the RCMP for PTSD awareness, or to Little Warriors, (www.littlewarriors.ca) a national group which helps prevent child sexual abuse.