Review board asked to allow Vince Li to live in group home

A Criminal Code Review Board is being asked to give Vince Li unsupervised passes to Winnipeg and allow him to live in a group home.

Psychiatrist Dr. Steven Kremer told the review board in Winnipeg on Monday that Li, 46, has had no hallucinations in over a year, he takes his medication, and he has had "profound improvement" in his mental status.

Various assessment tools show he is of low risk to re-engage in violence, Kremer added.

Should Li be transferred to a group home, staff there would ensure he continued the medication necessary to manage his schizophrenia, the doctor said.

Li entered the hearing Monday unshackled, sitting and listening quietly while his case was discussed.

The board will consider the latest recommendations and make a decision within a week.

At his review board hearing at this time last year, Li was granted unsupervised outings from the Selkirk Mental Health Centre into the nearby city of Selkirk, just north of Winnipeg.

It was the first time Li was allowed on his own in public since he stabbed Tim McLean and then ate parts of his body six years ago.

Since then, Li has also had passes to Winnipeg, for up to a full day, though they are supervised excursions.

Beheaded fellow bus passenger

Li was found not criminally responsible for stabbing and beheading McLean, a 22-year-old carnival worker, in July 2008.

​The two men were strangers when Li sat next to McLean on a bus ride to Winnipeg from Edmonton. Li's attack was unprovoked — he said he heard voices telling him to kill McLean.

The bus stopped and horrified passengers fled as Li carved up McLean's body.

In a 2012 interview with Chris Summerville, chief executive officer of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, Li said he had believed he was chosen by God to save people from an alien attack.

Li, who only later understood the voices he heard as schizophrenia, said he was convinced at the time that he was leading the third story of the Bible and "I was like the second coming of Jesus."

Li was initially kept inside a locked wing of the Selkirk mental hospital for 24 hours a day. Each year the review board has granted him more freedoms.

On Monday, Summerville said Li is a gentle, rehabilitated patient who wants to stay on his medication and understands what he did to McLean.

"He and I have had frank, very forward, direct, specific communication, eye to eye, about his responsibilities as he leaves Selkirk Mental Health Centre," Summerville told CBC News.

"My wish and my hope and my aim will be … to help him to be able to live a life as normal as the rest of us."

Summerville said a person who is not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder usually stays in hospital for an average of seven to 10 years.

"Mr. Li has been there approximately seven years and has been an excellent patient," he said.

"I want the public to know that I, Chris Summerville, CEO of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, will be meeting regularly with Mr. Li as he is out in the community."

High-profile case

Ken Mackenzie, manager of the forensic mental health program at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, told the hearing Li has experienced some public backlash on unescorted outings, but was "able to manage it quite effectively."

A larger city such as Winnipeg might grant Li — whose crime was reported around the world — a greater degree of anonymity, he suggested.

"We are acutely aware of the attention this case has been given over the years," Mackenzie told the hearing. "We want to give Vince Li the highest level of independence as we possibly can."

Winnipeg has group homes that are staffed around the clock with people experienced in cases involving the not criminally responsible and Li's reintegration would be gradual, he added.

Crown attorney Colleen McDuff said there is no question Li has done well under the current arrangement and she didn't oppose him moving to a Winnipeg hospital.

But she said the Crown has some concerns about how Li could react to a stressful move and suggested another hearing be held before any decision is made.

Alan Libman, Li's lawyer, said there is no reason not to accept the recommendations.

"They are taking into consideration the need to protect the public from dangerous persons," he said. "There has been no contrary opinion offered."

Li has expressed remorse and regret for the killing, Libman said. Li's English has improved vastly through continuing education and he is hoping to complete his studies in the community, he added.

"There is no reason to treat Mr. Li differently than any other person."

'He could become your neighbour,' mom warns

Neither McLean's mother, Carol de Delley, or McLean's father attended the hearing. McLean's relatives who did attend declined to comment.

While de Delley was not available for interviews on Monday, she posted a public message on Facebook thanking people for supporting her.

"Now please start thinking about yourselves and your families and communities because he's going to be out, he could become your neighbour," she wrote.

"The new legislation of a high risk designation and 3 yrs between hearings seems to have stalled out at the implementing and enforcing stage. What a shame."

In a message to CBC News, de Delley said legal mechanisms need to be put in place "to legally require these mentally ill killers to treat their illness.

"What good is the new legislation if they don't implement and enforce it? If they can't put the high risk designation on a medicated patient who while medicated poses no risk, and you can't take the index offence (the murder they committed) into account then who exactly would it apply too?" she wrote.

She added that she's concerned that nobody would be held responsible if Li ever reoffends.

Government statement

Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover​, who is from Winnipeg, sent out the following statement on Monday night in response to the review board hearing:

"Our government stands firmly by our legislative changes through the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act and points out that this is exactly why we made them.

"Our government has worked hard to ensure that those who break the law are held accountable for their actions; that penalties match the severity of crimes committed; and that the rights of victims come before the rights of criminals.

"It is unacceptable that dangerous and violent offenders are released into our communities, when they pose a threat to society. We made changes to the Not Criminally Responsible Act to ensure that dangerous offenders at risk of re-offending are kept behind bars, where they belong."