WINNIPEG — Tim McLean's mother says she's saddened, but not surprised, to hear that her son's killer could be released from a secured mental health centre within five years.
Vince Li is currently being treated at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, where he was sent last March after being found not criminally responsible for the brutal killing of McLean, who was attacked aboard a Greyhound bus in July 2008.
Stanley Yaren, a Winnipeg psychiatrist who has treated Li and testified at his trial last year, reportedly said during a meeting on suicide and mental health Monday that Li is making progress more quickly than is considered usual and could be released within five years.
Yaren reportedly admitted such a timeline was a guess, but that it wasn't an unrealistic one.
Yaren refused to speak to media Tuesday.
McLean's mother, Carol de Delley, said Tuesday she was upset by the proclamation, but not surprised.
"I've never been told anything in regard to Vince Li in terms of a number, but I've done considerable research on other NCR cases and it's usually less than five years, often less than three," she said, noting she's spoken with several families of other victims whose killers were found not criminally responsible. "The fact that he could be released — ever — terrifies me."
Such a situation only reinforces the need to change the law when it comes to NCR cases, said de Delley, who has been lobbying for the government to implement "Tim's Law," which proposes to set at least a minimum period of time on how long killers found not criminally responsible must spend in health care facilities before being released, if not a lifetime.
"It would be a life for a life. When you take a life you forfeit your freedom," she said, urging others to support the drive to change the law. "What I want to stress is that the power is in the people. Contact your MLA and your MP."
McLean's father, Tim McLean Sr., said Tuesday that he had never before heard of a potential timeline for Li's release either.
"We just hope it never happens," he said, noting he fears for public safety if Li is released.
"What if he fails to take his medication when he's released?" he said. "How does anybody ever get cured from something like this?"
Manitoba's Criminal Code review board will perform annual reviews of Li's mental health for however long he remains in the treatment centre. If he is ever released, it will be the board's decision.
The next review is set to take place some time before June 1, but de Delley said she has not yet been told of a date.
