Greyhound killer Vince Li likely to get unescorted passes from psychiatric hospital

The dilemma of how to handle the mentally ill who've committed horrific crimes is front and centre again as officials in Manitoba consider granting Vince Li unescorted passes from the psychiatric facility where he's been held for five years.

Li has been confined at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre since mid-2009, a year after being found not criminally responsible for killing 22-year-old Tim McLean a year earlier.

McLean was a passenger on a Greyhound bus headed for Winnipeg, sitting next to Li, who attacked him as the bus rolled towards Portage la Prairie, Man. Li stabbed McLean, and before stunned passengers cut off his head and partially cannibalized the young man.

Li suffered from untreated schizophrenia that caused him to suffer from hallucinations.

But doctors say since his confinement at Selkirk, Li has been making steady progress and on Monday recommended to the Manitoba Review Board that he be given a longer leash.

[ Related: Vince Li’s horrific crime puts spotlight on rehab for mentally ill ]

Li was granted a series of escorted passes in 2012, which upset McLean's mother, Carol de Delley. Now his psychiatrists are recommending unsupervised passes into the town of Selkirk, escorted visits into Winnipeg without a security guard and greater freedom within the mental health centre, CBC News reports.

Dr. Steven Kremer told a review board hearing Monday that Li is responding to treatment, understands the importance of taking his medication and is at low risk for another violent outburst, QMI Agency reported.

The Crown is supporting the recommendation, saying Li has not experienced any more of the paranoid delusions that sparked his attack on McLean. They consider him a low risk to re-offend, CBC News said.

The review board said it would take about a week to come to a decision on the recommendations.

De Delley attended Monday's hearings and the prospect of Li walking freely outside the hospital worries her.

"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 told CBC News.

“Vince Li has some insight – remarkable insight – into his illness now, but insight and understanding that he requires the medication and saying that he’s going to take it – for how long?”

De Delley had lobbied for legislation to keep those found not criminally responsible in custody.

[ Related: Crown challenges decision to grant Richard Kachkar escorted leave ]

The Conservative government has introduced something called the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, now before the Senate, that would keep some designated high-risk individuals under tighter control. Among other things, the time between custody reviews would be extended to up to three years and the rules around day passes would be stricter.

The bill, once passed, would be retroactive, Postmedia News reported when it was first introduced last year, meaning it would apply to patients like Li.

The Li case, along with others like Toronto snowplow cop-killer Richard Kachkar and B.C.'s Allan Schoenborn, who slaughtered his three young children, highlight the tension between the views of medical professionals treating these killers and society's view of what constitutes justice.

Many have come to trust doctors' opinions less and simply don't want to risk returning those like Li to the streets. They're viewed as ticking time bombs.

Winnipeg Sun columnist Tom Brodbeck said the only reason security officers accompanied Li on his escorted trips outside the hospital was to protect him from angry Selkirk residents.

It's only a matter of time before Li is released, Brodbeck wrote. It would be up to him to continue taking his meds. What if he decides he doesn't need them anymore?

"So while he's fine under the care and control of the psychiatrists, if he's released into the community where the onus and responsibility will eventually be on him to acquire and take his medication, things could turn messy in a hurry," he argued.