This is the same line of reasoning that would protect you if you broke the law while sleepwalking. In Canada we have legislation in place that would acquit someone, or label them as not criminally responsible (NCR) for their actions, if mens rea was not present in an illegal act. On the other hand, convicting someone for an act that they had no conscious knowledge or control over would be barbaric, and in Canada, we don’t punish people for doing something they have no control over. This means that someone must literally commit the act of the crime, and they must also be in a state of mind to consciously and willfully intend to do so, in order to be found guilty.Ĭonvicting someone for only thinking about committing an illegal act, without them actually taking any action to do so, would be an example of thoughtcrime, something straight out of the famous dystopian novel 1984, by George Orwell. In Canada, two elements are necessary to convict someone of murder: actus rea (the guilty act), and mens rea (the guilty mind). Vince Li was betrayed by his own brain chemistry. He could have never expected the reality that awaited him outside that Greyhound bus he probably expected to be met as a hero. On July 30, 2008, when Vince Li killed and dismembered Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus, he truly believed that he had just saved the world that he had been sent by God to kill a demon that threatened not only his own life but also the lives of others. It causes one to lose contact with reality, and will often cause one to experience hallucinations and delusions that the individual will believe with absolute certainty are real and true. When someone is afflicted by schizophrenia, one of the main, and most dangerous, symptoms they suffer from is psychosis, a serious but treatable medical condition that affects the mind. Since then I have been unable to think of Jwith hatred in my heart – only an unquantifiable sadness.Īs I see it, the two main sources of outrage over Vince Li’s trial is the public’s lack of understanding in regards to mental illness and a general ignorance of how Canadian law operates. But when I realized just how deeply my brother was suffering from schizophrenia, I was forced to confront and learn about the illness. I too used to think of Vince Li in an extremely negative light. We live in a society in which people are taught CPR in high school, yet next to nothing is taught about anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or many other serious mental illnesses – as if this information were not as life-saving as CPR. The public discourse around the trial has been disheartening, although I do recognize that it largely stems from ignorance rather than malice. As someone whose brother suffers from schizophrenia, I’ve paid close attention to the trial of Vince Li - a man who has since changed his name for the sake of anonymity.
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