![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldThe news that Vince Li, the Greyhound passenger responsible for the unusually gruesome July 2008 killing of Tim McLean on board a Greyhound bus, will be allowed unsupervised visits has gotten wide coverage. (The reporting by the CBC is typical.)
I'm not surprised that the victim's mother is upset. As I noted in 2009, though, Li committed the crime in question while in a schizophrenic episode, apparently believing he needed to kill McLean in order to prevent an alien invasion. Li was clearly not capable of forming criminal intent, and not criminally responsible. Keeping him detained even after Li's biochemical issues have been regulated and the man is capable of becoming a functioning and contributing individual is unjust.
Li's doctors should be held responsible for their patient's behaviour, and potential misbehaviours. I strongly suspect that they are in any case.
I'm not surprised that the victim's mother is upset. As I noted in 2009, though, Li committed the crime in question while in a schizophrenic episode, apparently believing he needed to kill McLean in order to prevent an alien invasion. Li was clearly not capable of forming criminal intent, and not criminally responsible. Keeping him detained even after Li's biochemical issues have been regulated and the man is capable of becoming a functioning and contributing individual is unjust.
Li's doctors should be held responsible for their patient's behaviour, and potential misbehaviours. I strongly suspect that they are in any case.
A man who beheaded a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba will soon be allowed to leave a mental hospital without an escort.
Thursday's ruling by the Criminal Code Review Board means Vince Li will be on his own in public for the first time since he stabbed Tim McLean and then ate parts of his body six years ago.
The board granted Li all the new freedoms his psychiatric team had requested at a hearing earlier this week. Lead psychiatrist Dr. Steven Kremer said Li, a schizophrenic, has stopped experiencing delusions and is a model, non-violent patient.
Instead of the supervised outings Li had been granted previously, he will be allowed unescorted trips from the Selkirk Mental Health Centre into the nearby city of Selkirk. The visits, to begin next Thursday, are to start at 30 minutes and increase to full days.
[. . .]
For McLean's mother, the changes were an outrage.
"We're not surprised. We're very disappointed, embarrassed, ashamed," Carol DeDelley said.
[. . .]
Crown attorney Susan Helenchilde did not oppose the changes proposed at this year's hearing. She noted that Li has co-operated with hospital staff at all times.
Li's doctors said he willingly takes his medication and understands the importance of doing so.
DeDelley is not convinced. She said there is no way to guarantee that Li will continue to take his drugs if he's unsupervised.
"He poses no threat in care. I propose they keep him in care so he's not a threat."
DeDelley has been running a website, www.timslaw.ca, where she highlights cases across the country in which people found not criminally responsible for crimes reoffend after being released.
