Last Updated: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 8:34 PM CT.

CBC News

The man who decapitated a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus heading to Winnipeg last July will remain in a locked psychiatric ward for at least the next year.


Click to view image: '8e45a892345b-vince_li.jpg'

Criminal Code Review Board chairman John Stefaniuk said Vince Li will be housed in a secure ward at the Winnipeg Health Science Centre or at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre.

Because of his mental state, Li was found not criminally responsible for the stabbing and beheading of 22-year-old Timothy McLean.

Stefaniuk said the reasons for the review board's decision will not be released for some time. But he said the board agreed with evidence given at a hearing this week by a forensic psychiatrist.

He testified that Li needed to remain locked up under the highest level of security, despite his progress in treatment.

The board will review Li's case in a year.

Lawyers for McLean's family accused Stefaniuk of being in a conflict of interest because his firm is representing Greyhound in pending civil lawsuits over the case. Stefaniuk, an environmental lawyer, is not directly involved in the lawsuits.

Norman Boudreau and Jay Prober also argued the board has no right to withhold the reasons for its ruling from the public to protect Li's privacy. Both lawyers said if the board doesn't make its entire ruling public, McLean's family will consider a challenge in Appeal Court.