'Please kill me,' begs man accused of Greyhound bus beheading

The man accused of beheading and then eating another passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada has begged a judge to  "please kill me".

Vince Weiguang Li made his plea when a judge asked him if he wanted a lawyer as he appeared in court in Manitoba yesterday.

Li, who immigrated to Canada from China in 2004, is charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of 22-year-old carnival worker Tim McLean - an attack which witnesses aboard the bus said appeared to be unprovoked. He has yet to enter a plea.

Thirty-seven passengers were aboard the Greyhound from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, as it traveled at night along a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles (19 kilometres) from Portage La Prairie last Wednesday.

Some were napping and others watching the movie "The Legend of Zorro" on bus television screens when Li attacked McLean, allegedly stabbing him dozens of times.

As horrified passengers fled the bus, Li severed McLean's head, displaying it to some of the passengers outside the bus, witnesses said. He then began hacking at the body.

A police officer at the scene reported seeing the attacker hacking off pieces of the victim's body and eating them, according to a police tape leaked on the Internet.

Prosecutors said Li, 40, had a plastic bag containing his victim's ear, nose and part of a mouth in his pocket when officers arrested him and was swinging it, taunting officers.

The only response officers received from him was allegedly: 'I have to stay on the bus forever'.

Police are looking into information that Li may have spent as many as four days in a psychiatric facility prior to the attack, Dalmyn said.

Since his arrest, Li has declined to speak to prosecutors and his court-appointed attorney.

When asked by a judge if he wanted a lawyer, Li shook his head and then quietly said" "Please kill me."

Li is due back in court September 8.

A church pastor, Tom Castor, who helped hire Li soon after he immigrated in 2004 with his wife, Anna, said the man never showed any sign of anger or emotional problems when he worked there as a custodian.

Church officials said they vetted Li by contacting references listed on his application and running a criminal record check.

More than 105,000 people have joined an online memorial group for the victim Mr McLean.

In the wake of the attack, Greyhound scrapped a billboard ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel.

The ad's punch line was "There's a reason you've never heard of 'bus rage."'