Cannibal allowed to leave mental hospital for a stroll, just four years after he beheaded and ate sleeping bus passenger

A man who beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada four years ago won his bid to leave the grounds of the mental hospital where he has been kept, a criminal review board ruled on Thursday.

The Criminal Code review board said Vince Li's treatment team may grant him short escorted trips into Selkirk, Manitoba. The review board said the passes will start at 30 minutes and increase incrementally to a maximum of full days.

Li, 44, was found not criminally responsible for the July 2008 death of 22-year-old Tim McLean, a carnival worker who was sitting next to Li on a bus.

Leniency: Cannibal Vince Li (left) will be allowed to take escorted walks outside the grounds of the mental institution where he is kept

At Li’s trial in March of 2009, a judge was told that he was an untreated schizophrenic who was suffering from auditory hallucinations commanding him to kill McLean, a stranger.

On Thursday, the board said the passes should only be granted if Li's treatment team believes his condition is stable and that it would be ‘appropriate and safe for him to leave the locked ward.’



He will have to be escorted at all times by a nurse and a peace officer who will be wearing street clothes to avoid drawing attention to LI..

‘It's terrible. It's disgusting,’ Nadine McLean, the victim's stepmother, said Thursday after she learned about the decision. ‘It's kind of a waste going to the review board every year when he's going to get whatever he asks for.’

Victim: Tim McLean (pictured) was sleeping on a Greyhound bus traveling through Canada when Vince Li started stabbing him, eventually cutting off his head

Carol DeDelley, the victim's mother, also called the board’s decision unacceptable and vowed to continue her efforts to fight the law dealing with people found not criminally responsible.

‘If he's doing well in a controlled environment with regularly administrated medications, leave him there … but freedom for him? I don't think that should ever be an option,’ she said.

The passes can be issued starting May 24.

Crime scene: The Greyhound bus was en route to Winnipeg in July of 2008 when Li attacked his fellow passenger and decapitated him west of Portage la Prairie

Horrific: Witnesses saw Li (left) walking the length of the bus brandishing McLean's head and eating parts of his body

Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson expressed concerns about the board’s decision, wondering if it is too soon to allow Li to walk the streets of his city - a community of about 9,800.



‘It’s a tough one, it’s scary,’ he told Canoe . ‘There’s not much we can do, we have to stand behind [the decision[, but I sure hope that they thoroughly do their job and have everything in order.’



On July 30, 2008, Li was sitting on a Greyhound bus headed to Winnipeg next to McLean. The young man had his eyes closed and was listening to music on his headphones when Li suddenly stood up and started stabbing him.



Treatment: Vince Li, a schizophrenic, was found criminally not responsible for the murder and sent to the Selkirk Mental Health Center (pictured)

Li then beheaded McLean and started parading up and down the bus brandishing the man's severed head.

As the bus ground to a halt and horrified passengers scrambled to get out, Li continued to stab, mutilate and dismember McLean. Witnesses reported seeing Li eat pieces of the man's body and lick blood from his fingers.

When police arrived on the scene, Li attempted to escape from the bus by breaking through a window, at which point he was Tasered twice and arrested, according to the Winnipeg Free Press .



Following his trial, Li was initially confined to a locked wing of the Selkirk Mental Health Center, but in 2010 was given the right to escorted walks outside.



Supervised: A criminal review board ruled that Li be allowed to take escorted walks into Sekirik - a town of about 9,800

Last June, the review board further relaxed conditions restricting Li’s access to the hospital grounds, ruling that he gradually be allowed to walk outside for up to several hours a day.



Li's psychiatrist, Dr Steven Kremer, said the 44-year-old has responded well to treatment and asked the review board earlier this week to allow his patient to travel into town, according to Canoe

Kramer described Li as a model patient, who has shown no security risks and who has participated in treatment programs and taken up odd jobs at the hospital.

Furious: Tim McLean's relatives said they were disgusted by the review board's decision to let Vince Li walk outside the grounds of the mental hospital

‘I believe the privileges we are asking for would not put the community at risk,’ said Kremer, who estimated Li’s risk of committing another crime at less than 1 per cent.



Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced he asked officials to review the Criminal Code section dealing with people found not criminally responsible. He said public safety must come first.

Li emigrated from China in 2001 and worked menial jobs in Winnipeg, Canada. He moved to Edmonton in 2006 and was on his way back to Winnipeg when he killed McLean.







