Beheading bus-rider denied freedom

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A Canadian provincial board has denied any freedoms for a man placed in psychiatric detention for stabbing and beheading a fellow Greyhound bus passenger.

The Manitoba Criminal Review Board ruled in June Vincent Li could not be released on his own and provided the rationale for that decision this week, the Canwest News Service reported Thursday.

Li used a machete to stab a fellow passenger unknown to him on a Winnipeg-bound bus before decapitating and dismembering the man in front of fellow passengers in July 2008.

Li was found not criminally responsible for killing 22-year-old Tim McLean based on medical testimony he was suffering from untreated schizophrenia and psychotic delusions when the attack occurred.

In explaining the board's decision to consider any freedoms for Li, John Stefaniuk, the board's chairman noted, among other factors, Li's history of refusing to take his medications.

"We are of the opinion that without the continued, close supervision provided by detention in hospital, Mr. Li would be a significant risk to the safety of the public," Stefaniuk wrote.

The board will periodically review psychiatric reports on Li's condition to determine when, if ever, he can safely be released.