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Friends say beheading victim on bus 'never got into a single fight in his life' |
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Written by Steve Lambert, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Friday, 01 August 2008 |
Tim McLean is seen in a photo taken from his MySpace.com personal page. The quiet, easy-going carnival worker who was heading home to Winnipeg has been identified as the victim of an unthinkably horrific and random slaying on a Greyhound bus. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Tim McLean
WINNIPEG - A man accused of beheading a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus uttered not a word in court Friday and the victim's friends were still at a loss as to how anyone could have attacked someone they say never hurt a soul.
"There was nothing in the world that could set him off or (make) him do anything wrong to anybody," said William Caron, who knew Tim McLean, 22, since Grade 7.
"As far as I've known him, he'd never got into a single fight in his whole life."
There were no answers from a courtroom in Portage la Prairie, Man., where Vince Weiguang Li, 40, of Edmonton, made his first court appearance on a charge of second-degree murder.
Li - his face bruised, one hand bandaged and his legs shackled - quietly shuffled into the room with his head bowed. He did not make eye contact with anyone the entire time he was before the judge.
He would not even reply when the judge asked him if he was going to get a lawyer and only nodded slightly when asked whether he was exercising his right not to speak.
The accused, wearing a grey T-shirt and prisoner's vest, appeared to be about five-foot-eight or nine with a stocky build.
Passengers had described McLean's attacker as a big man who weighed at least 200 pounds.
The Crown asked for a psychiatric assessment, but the judge said he wanted to give Li a chance to talk to a lawyer about that.
"It's early and I think the judge just wants to respect his rights to ... speak to counsel and he's giving him that opportunity," Crown prosecutor Larry Hodgson said outside court. "I don't think it will be very long that they'll allow him to do that (be without a lawyer)."
Li was charged after McLean died in a gruesome attack on a Greyhound bus that was travelling from Edmonton to Winnipeg.
Police did not release details about his death. But passengers said the young man died in an appalling attack in which his seat-mate silently stood up and repeatedly stabbed him before severing his head and carving up his body.
Friends say they simply cannot understand why anyone would attack the thin young man, just five-feet, five inches tall, and by all accounts easy-going.
"He was just such an amazing guy. He had a great personality," McLean's longtime friend and Caron's wife, Jodi Lang, said on the lawn of their Winnipeg home.
McLean had been working at carnival booths and was coming home from Edmonton to be with his family. He led a mostly quiet life, preferring to spend time playing cards and the board game Risk, Caron said.
His friend liked to travel, which was the reason he spent three summers working the carnival circuit, Caron added.
"He never cared for sitting around, unless it was for a weekend with the guys playing Risk. He was always big on travelling. He didn't like to sit in one place."
McLean and Caron got their first tattoos together. Caron opted for a ghost riding a motorcycle. McLean chose a joker - a theme he would use for his Myspace web page under the name Jokawild, where he described his interests as "playin vids, chillin', havin a good time."
Details also started to emerge Friday about Li, who Edmonton media said worked as a newspaper carrier for the Edmonton Sun and Edmonton Journal.
Vincent Augert, an independent contractor who distributes for the newspapers and the National Post, said Li had asked for time off to go to Winnipeg for a job interview.
However, Augert told media in Edmonton he had spoken to Li's wife and she had a different impression, believing her husband had left their home to attend an out-of-town family emergency.
Augert said she hadn't heard from him in days.
"I just had shivers," Augert said of hearing the allegations against Li. "And I still do. I cannot believe this. He's a nice guy."
Augert said after Li delivered newspapers in the Clairview area of Edmonton on Monday, "he fell off the face of the Earth."
"I was thinking something was wrong. It just wasn't in his character not to deliver papers."
Augert also said Li did not collect his July paycheque, but had been regarded as a quiet and reliable carrier with a superior work ethic.
"He did a really good job for us," Augert said. "He picked up his papers on time and (there were) never any problems."
Hodgson said if Li doesn't get his own lawyer, the court could appoint one or the case could proceed anyway.
Li's next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday in Portage la Prairie.
Meanwhile, tributes to the victim were pouring into social networking and media websites. A Facebook website called "R.I.P. Tim" quickly sprang up after news of the attack.
"I can't believe this is happening," wrote Leah Dryburgh of Winnipeg. "Tim, you were the best guy ever. You didn't deserve this at all."
-With files from Jennifer Graham in Portage la Prairie, Man.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 01 August 2008 )
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