Yesterday, the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board granted Will Baker an absolute discharge, seven years after he was found not criminally responsible (NCR) in the death of Tim McLean, 22. Baker was known as Vince Li at the time of McLean’s death but was legally allowed to change his name to Will Baker.
In granting Baker an absolute discharge the board wrote the members were “of the opinion that the weight of the evidence does not substantiate that Mr. Baker poses a significant threat to the public.” In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled a review board “must” grant an absolute discharge if it finds the person does not pose a “significant” threat to public safety.
On July 30, 2008, Baker was travelling through Manitoba on a Greyhound bus. McLean, a carnival worker and complete stranger, was sitting next to him. According to evidence adduced at trial, McLean smiled at him and asked him how he was doing. Baker claimed God then told him to kill McLean or else he (Baker) would die. Baker pulled out a knife and stabbed McLean several times, beheading him and eating parts of his body while other passengers fled the bus. Baker was arrested while still on the bus mutilating McLean’s body.
Baker was later diagnosed as having schizophrenia and at his 2009 trial he was found NCR and confined to a secure wing of a mental hospital. Over the years he was granted more freedom beginning with escorted passes to walk around the hospital grounds. Since last November, Baker had been living on his own in Winnipeg. All he was required to do was to agree to be monitored to make sure he was continuing to take his medication. Dr. Jeffery Waldman, Baker’s doctor, had earlier told the board he was confident Baker understands his condition and will continue to receive treatment and take his medication.
Chris Summerville, executive director of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, has worked with Baker over the years and said he is no longer violent and has a desire to live a responsible life.
But not everyone is pleased with the decision. Carol de Delley, McLean’s mother, has been a vocal critic of the NCR designation since her son’s death. De Delley has argued Baker be detained for life and on Friday all she could do is post on Facebook that she had no words.
Former RCMP officer and forensic psychologist Matt Logan said he would have preferred Baker been granted a conditional discharge rather than an absolute one. Logan said while Baker functioned well with controls in place, there is no guarantee he will continue to take his medication and treatment when the structure he has known is gone.
McLean was not the only casualty of the July 2008 killing. In July 2014, retired RCMP officer Ken Barker, 51 took his own life. Barker, one of the first officers to reach the bus, had been suffering from PTSD as a result of what he experienced that day. Family members said he became more distressed whenever the loosening of restrictions on Baker’s freedom appeared in the media.
SEE ALSO: Mountie who witnessed Greyhound bus beheading commits suicide
Now that he has been absolutely discharged, Baker plans to stay in Winnipeg and is on a waiting list for a post-secondary training program. He also wants to visit his native China.
You can read the board’s decision here.
