Outcry over Vince Li decision disappoints Morden man who lost wife, son
Seeing the latest headlines about Vince Li opened old wounds for George Penner, whose wife and son were killed 35 years ago by a neighbour suffering from a psychotic episode. But Penner says he's disappointed in the latest public outcry over Li's rehabilitation.
Penner, a retired teacher living in Morden, Man., was horrified by the events in 2008 that led to the death and beheading of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus.
Li, who has schizophrenia, has undergone years of treatment at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre since he was found not criminally responsible for 22-year-old's death.
Last Friday, Li was granted additional freedoms that include unescorted passes to Winnipeg as well as Selkirk and surrounding areas.
The decision by the Manitoba Review Board had a number of people — including McLean's mother, Carol de Delley — raising concerns about public safety and the possibility of Li relapsing.
"I can certainly identify with Tim McLean's mother in the sense that she's lost a lot and it was horrific, and she's certainly entitled to her feelings, and I had similar ones," Penner said Tuesday in an interview on CBC's Radio Noon program.
But over time, Penner said he saw the need to confront those feelings.
Difficult choices
One day in 1980, while Penner was at work, Arnold Charles Franz shot and killed his wife, Margaret, and their two-year-old son, Karl.
The couple's four-year-old son was rushed to hospital with a gunshot wound to his head.
Penner remembers the bitterness and anger he felt during the tragedy, but he chose to leave that behind.
"You make choices about how you're going to live your life," he said.
"That involved a choice about how I would deal with my feelings and attitudes towards someone who had taken so much away from me."
He was confronted with that choice as he watched his eldest son, Mark, struggle with his own recovery.
Doctors told Penner at the time of the shooting that Mark lost more than 60 per cent of his physical abilities. While the injuries from that day prevented him from a full physical recovery, Penner said he worried he was holding his son back from his fullest potential.
"I had a son who has survived with a severe disability. And having lost his mother as well as his baby brother, he was effectively losing his father, who was a bitter and angry man," Penner said.
"As a result, I had to make some choices: Did I want to be a father to him? Or did I want to be someone that cared for him and could raise him in an environment that could nurture him? I chose the latter."
Conservative MPs condemn Li decision
The decision to grant Li more freedoms was condemned by Manitoba Conservative MPs Shelly Glover and James Bezan.
"Last week’s decision made by the provincially appointed Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board to allow Vince Li who beheaded and cannibalized Tim McLean, to move to Winnipeg and be allowed to have unescorted day passes in Winnipeg and Selkirk is an insult to his victim’s family," Bezan wrote in a statement issued Tuesday.
"I am very concerned about Tim McLean’s family who has yet to see justice served, and I express my condolences to the family for this callous decision. In my opinion, this decision poses a great risk to public safety."
Penner said while he understands the source of some of the public's concern, he wants people to abandon their fears around some kind of relapse.
"With proper care and attention, mental illness can be worked with," he said.
"It's true, I think, that some kinds of diseases will always linger with you, but with treatment you can live a productive life."
He added, "I think there are employers out there who are compassionate people, and there are people with mental illnesses that are recovering who have the capacity to be productive in our life, and I think we need to utilize that productiveness and help them on the path to recovery."
Met with family
Soon after his wife and son were murdered, Penner met with the family of the accused. He wanted them to know that he didn't blame them, and that what happened to his family was not their burden to bear.
He never did confront Arnold Franz, but said he would consider it now.
"I think I would have the capacity to do that with a great deal less emotional involvement at this time, because I think I have forgiven him," Penner said of Franz.
