More time is needed to assess the competency of a man accused of beheading and eating the flesh of a passenger on a bus in Canada, his lawyer said Monday.
A judge had ordered Vince Weiguang Li to undergo a psychiatric evaluation last month to determine whether he was competent to stand trial for the July killing of 22-year-old carnival worker Tim McLean.
Defense lawyer Alan Libman said the psychiatrist examining Li has asked for an extension. Li, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the slaying, has not entered a plea. He was not present for Monday's hearing.
The case was postponed to Oct. 6.
Prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn told the court Li was being cooperative with the doctor now assessing him.
Some 37 passengers were aboard the Greyhound from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The attack happened as the bus traveled a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 12 miles from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
Witnesses said Li attacked McLean unprovoked, stabbing him with a knife 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.
A police officer at the scene reported seeing the attacker hack off pieces of the victim's body and eat them, according to a police report.
Libman declined to comment about his dealings with Li, who refused a lawyer in his first court appearance.
Li, who immigrated to Canada from China in 2004, asked in court last month for someone to "please kill me."