Greyhound bus beheading verdict
The Canadian Press
March 4, 2009
{WINNIPEG — A judge was to decide Thursday whether a man diagnosed by both Crown and defence doctors as mentally ill was criminally responsible when he beheaded a Greyhound bus passenger.
Vince Li's case wrapped up in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday morning after testimony from a psychiatrist testifying for the defence and final arguments from both sides.
Dr. Jonathan Rootenberg echoed earlier testimony from a Crown psychiatrist who said Mr. Li, 40, heard the voice of God telling him to kill Tim McLean or risk being killed himself.
“The attack was sudden and came as Mr. Li caught a glimpse of the sunlight and heard God's voice telling him that McLean was a threat,” Dr. Rootenberg testified. “The voice said, 'Do it now ... If you don't, he's going to kill you.”'
Dr. Rootenberg said Mr. Li was psychotic and unable to know that stabbing and beheading Mr. McLean, 22, was wrong.
“It wasn't his hands doing that,” he said. “It was God's hands and God doing that through him.”
He said Mr. Li suffers from schizophrenia and was not criminally responsible for the gruesome killing.
Mr. Li has admitted that he killed Mr. McLean and then defiled his body, but has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
An agreed statement of facts read out in court Tuesday detailed how Mr. Li attacked Mr. McLean “for no apparent reason” and ignored other horrified passengers as he repeatedly stabbed the young man, who unsuccessfully fought for his life.
When the bus pulled over near Portage la Prairie, Man., Mr. Li was engrossed with stabbing and mutilating Mr. McLean's body. Passengers fled the bus and stood outside.
It was then that Mr. Li tried numerous times to leave the bus. But he was locked inside and, according to the statement, returned to Mr. McLean's body and methodically carved it up further.
Police said Mr. McLean's body parts were found throughout the bus in plastic bags, although part of his heart and both eyes were never found and were presumed eaten by Mr. Li.
The victim's ear, nose and tongue were found in Mr. Li's pocket.
Mr. Li tried to escape from the bus through a window and was taken into custody.
After that, blood smeared on his face from the attack, he politely apologized to police and pleaded with officers to take his life.
Crown psychiatrist, Dr. Stanley Yaren, testified that Mr. Li cut Mr. McLean's body up because he believed that killing him wasn't enough — that Mr. McLean would come back to life and exact revenge.}
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090304.wbustrialover0304/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090304.wbustrialover0304
-
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Man_decapitated_on_Greyhound_bus_in_Manitoba
