Beheading suspect may never go to trial

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The man charged with stabbing and beheading a fellow Greyhound bus passenger in Manitoba, Canada, may never go to trial depending on a psychiatric assessment.

Provincial court Judge Michel Chartier agreed with Crown prosecutors' requests to have 40-year-old Vincent Li assessed to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.

Chartier agreed after hearing grisly details of how 22-year-old Tim McLean was stabbed at least 40 times, dragged to the floor and decapitated on a bus near Portage la Prairie last Wednesday night. Police reports said the attacker also ate some of the body parts he cut off during a four-hour standoff, the report said.

Psychiatrist Frank Vattheur was to meet with Li Thursday and report to the court on Sept. 8.

If his conclusion is that Li isn't fit to stand trial, the criminal case will be finished, the newspaper said.

At his Tuesday hearing, Li was heard to quietly say "Kill me now," the newspaper said.