[Dion]

Vince Li agrees to continued monitoring if he's granted freedom

WINNIPEG — A psychiatrist testified Monday that a schizophrenic man who beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus is unlikely to go off of his medication because he doesn’t want his disease to take over again.

Baker’s doctor, Jeffrey Waldman, told the board that he is confident Baker will remain on his medication and will continue to work with his treatment team if released. Waldman testified that Baker knows it’s the medication that keeps his illness at bay.

That should be enough to grant Baker his freedom, argued lawyer Alan Libman.

“We’ve heard over and over again about Mr. Baker’s commitment to taking his medication, his commitment to physical and mental health, and his commitment to making sure he’s never in a position where his reality is different than the rest of us,” Libman told the board.

“He never wants to be in a situation where he could cause harm to himself or others.”

Baker is monitored nightly by pharmacy staff who stop by his apartment to watch him take his medication, a practice Waldman said Baker has agreed to continue if his request is granted.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1999 that a review board must order an absolute discharge if a person doesn’t pose a significant threat to public safety.

The ruling added there must be clear evidence of a significant risk to the public for the review board to continue imposing conditions after a person is found not criminally responsible.

The board is to rule on the discharge request in the coming days.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/02/06...freedom-monday