WINNIPEG — The man who beheaded Tim McLean aboard a Greyhound bus could soon be moving to Winnipeg. Vince Li was before the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board Monday afternoon and the board is now being asked to consider unsupervised trips in Winnipeg and a living plan that would allow Li to reside at a Level 5 group home in the city.
Its a move that doesn’t sit well with McLean’s family.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Carol deDelley, who believes those found NCR for murder should remain in a facility for life. “I’ve been saying the same stuff for going on seven years and people are only now starting to perk up and take notice, because guess what? He’s coming to a neighborhood near you.”
Several different tests used by clinicians to establish risk factors have placed Li in lowest possible category to re-engage in violent crime. Experts say as long as he remains compliant with taking medication, which is a key component, Li is at a low risk to reoffend.
Psychiatrists told the board Li had a “good year” and hasn’t had any hallucinations in more than a year. He has expressed remorse for his crimes and is aware of how they have affected society, his clinical team said.
Li’s clinical team recommended he:
- be moved from the Selkirk Mental Health Centre to the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre psychiatric unit;
- continue to take medication for his psychiatric condition;
- gradually be given unsupervised passes in Winnipeg; and
- with continuous assessment, possibly be moved to a Level 5 group home, which has 24-hour staff and deals with NCR patients.
The board will decide Li’s future next week.
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Vince Li was found not criminally responsible for the killing of Tim McLean near Portage la Prairie, Man., and has since been part of annual reviews that decide whether he should be allowed new freedoms. Li currently lives at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre.
READ MORE: Would tougher NCR rules keep Vince Li from reoffending?
Last year the board granted Li unsupervised visits into Selkirk as well as less supervision on trips into other cities, such as Winnipeg.
READ MORE: Prominent ‘not criminally responsible’ cases not part of trend: experts
Chris Summerville, with the Schizophrenia Society of Canada says Li is doing “profoundly well” and that he has handled stress well. Summerville says while on unsupervised visits in Selkirk he has confronted residents who didn’t want to be near him, or around him, and he has removed himself from the situation.
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