We should all have extraordinary empathy for victims of violent crime. And it’s always difficult to offer a contrarian viewpoint when dealing with a grieving mother. That said, Carol deDelley, the mother of Timothy Mclean, is focussing on the wrong target.
Last July, Timothy Mclean had the misfortune of sitting beside Vincent Li on Greyhound bus 1170. What occurred when the bus was just outside Winnipeg is the stuff of horror movies: Li stabbed Mclean and decapitated him.
Understandably, deDelley is still grieving. What loving parent wouldn’t be? But recently, she let it be known that she wants the bus in which the murder took place permanently taken off the road.
The bus in question has been refurbished, cleaned, renumbered and is now situated in another province. You’d never be able to identify the bus formerly known as 1170 from any other Greyhound on the road. Yet, deDelley calls the continued use of this bus “disrespectful” to her son’s memory.
With all due respect, Greyhound has been respectful in making certain this bus is now just an anonymous vehicle in its fleet. Had Mclean been murdered in an office tower, surely no one would call for the building to be razed?
Rather, the memory of Timothy Mclean is being disrespected by another entity: the justice system. Not only was Li found not criminally responsible for the murder, but one of the options being mulled over recently was to release him back into general society without informing the public. Privacy rights, apparently, extend to psychopaths.
Thankfully, public outcry regarding this odious option was deafening. As it stands now, Li will be confined to a psychiatric ward for at least a year. And the public will be apprised of future directives.
That’s just not good enough. I don’t give a rodent’s rectum if Li is mentally ill or that he’s making “progress” in his treatment. Li is extremely dangerous. I want to see him incarcerated for life. Period.
Bottom line: let’s not get sidetracked into pressuring Greyhound to get rid of a now-anonymous, run-of-the-mill bus. Rather, let’s focus on a justice system that can be equal parts inexplicable and egregious in its decisions. Let’s try to keep Li, as opposed to a bus, off the road. Permanently
