Tim McLeans Bus beheader; Vince Li wins right to escorted trips into community.

Vince Li is shown arriving at court in Portage La Prairie, Man., August 5, 2008. …

Thu July 31, 2008

(CNN) – As horrified travelers watched, a Greyhound Canada bus passenger repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated a young man who was sitting and sleeping beside him, a witness said Thursday.

“There was a bloodcurdling scream. I was just reading my book, and all of a sudden, I heard it,” Garnet Caton, who was sitting in front of the two men, said of the Wednesday night incident west of Portage la Prairie in Manitoba.

“It was like something between a dog howling and a baby crying, I guess you could say,” Caton said. “I don’t think it will leave me for a while.”

Passengers exited the bus, and a trucker who stopped provided wrenches and crowbars to several of them so they could keep the suspect on the bus until police came, witnesses told Canadian TV.

The suspect was seized with the help of negotiators, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Steve Colwell said.  Watch Colwell discuss the case »

The Canadian Press – Thu, 17 May, 2012

A Criminal Code review board has ruled that Vince Li’s treatment team may grant him short escorted trips into Selkirk.

The review board says the passes will start at 30 minutes and increase incrementally to a maximum of full days.

The board also says 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.”

Li will have to be escorted at all times by a staff member and a security officer.

“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.”

The passes can be issued starting May 24.

Li was found not criminally responsible for the July 2008 death of Tim McLean, a young carnival worker who was sitting next to Li on a bus near Portage la Prairie.

Li was initially confined to a locked wing of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, but in 2010 was given the right to escorted walks on the hospital grounds.

Li’s psychiatrist says the 44-year-old has responded well to treatment and asked the review board earlier this week to let Li take trips into town.

The Crown did not oppose the idea, but the victim’s mother, Carol DeDelley, said Li should never be allowed out in public.

Selkirk Mayor Larry Johannson said Thursday he has to respect the decision of the board. The mental hospital has been in community for years and other patients who committed horrific acts have likely been walking around the city before.