Man thought he was beheading alien

Winnipeg, Manitoba: A Chinese immigrant who beheaded and cannibalised a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in western Canada four years ago thought he was attacking an alien, according to a mental health advocate who interviewed him.

In 2009, Vince Li was found not criminally responsible due to mental illness for the death of Tim McLean, a 22-year-old carnival worker who was sitting next to him on a bus traveling near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. McLean had his eyes closed and was listening to music on his headphones when Li suddenly stood up and started stabbing him. As the bus stopped and horrified passengers fled, Li carved up McLean's body, ate portions of it, and displayed the victim's head to some passengers outside the bus.

After the judge's ruling, Li was placed in a locked wing of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. Initially, he was not allowed outside, but over the years he has gained more freedom. Last week, a Criminal Code review board decided that Li can start having escorted trips off the hospital grounds and into the nearby city of Selkirk.

The ruling sparked renewed outrage from some members of the public, prompting Chris Summerville, head of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, to conduct a 45-minute interview with Li last weekend with the hope of shedding light on his progress. Summerville has met with Li roughly every two months over the last four years.

"[Li feels] remorse, a degree of humility — I know a lot of people won't believe that — regret and a sense of torment," Summerville said on Tuesday. "He understands now that schizophrenia is a mental illness which plays tricks on the brain. He knows that the medication works to keep the voices away."

Summerville released an edited transcript of the interview to the media on Tuesday, in which he and Li discuss the night of July 30, 2008, when Li sat on a bus next to McLean.

"He was on the lookout for aliens as such, and the voice of God told him that Tim McLean was an alien and he needed to destroy him lest Tim destroy other people," Summerville said. According to Summerville's transcript, Li recognises that people fear him.