Canada can't deport beheading suspect

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Public calls in Canada for the deportation of a man accused of beheading a fellow bus passenger are futile, as he's a Canadian citizen, a report said Monday.

The Winnipeg Free Press said it learned Vincent Li, 40, had taken Canadian citizenship nearly two years ago, and therefore couldn't be sent back to his native China if he is convicted of second degree murder.

Li was arrested while climbing out of window of a Greyhound bus southwest of Winnipeg July 30 after a standoff with Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Officers found the decapitated body of 22-year-old Tim McLean on the bus. Police alleged Li had also eaten some of Li's body parts before being captured.

Li arrived in Canada on June 11, 2001, in Vancouver with his wife, whom he left in November 2006, about the time he gained citizenship, the report said.

He has appeared in court twice but has not entered a plea. A judge in Portage la Prairie ordered a psychiatric assessment on him before he returns to court Sept. 8.

McLean was buried in Winnipeg Saturday at a service attended by some 600 people, the newspaper said.