Prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn, who argued for the evaluation, revealed new details about the attack, which occurred last Wednesday night. She said Vince Weiguang Li had a plastic bag containing his victim's ear, nose and part of a mouth in his pocket when officers arrested him.
The only response officers received from him was: "'I have to stay on the bus forever,'" Dalmyn said.
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.
He was scheduled to appear Tuesday in court in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, to determine whether he should undergo psychiatric testing, but the judge adjourned the hearing for a short recess to allow a legal aid attorney to confer with the suspect. Dalmyn said Li refused to work with the lawyer.
Since his arrest, Li has declined to speak to prosecutors and his court-appointed attorney.
When asked by Provincial Court of Manitoba Judge Michel Chartier after the recess if he wanted a lawyer, Li shook his head and then quietly said "please kill me."
Dalmyn said many heard the plea.
"There were some people in the courtroom that were taken aback by it," Dalmyn told The Associated Press. "Those were the only words I heard him utter in the courtroom."
Dalmyn said Li appeared to understand what the judge was asking him.
"He shook his head in response to questions from the judge. Some shakes of his appeared to be in the affirmative. Some of them appeared to be in the negative," Dalmyn said.
Li is due back in court Sept. 8. Dalmyn said they hope to have the psychiatric assessment by then, and that a new lawyer could be appointed to the case after Li rejected the legal aid counsel who handled the case Tuesday.
"Then we can look to consider whether in the psychiatrists opinion the accused is fit to stand trial and whether we are proceeding at that point or whether there are fitness concerns that need to be canvassed by the court," she said.
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 from Portage La Prairie. 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.
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 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.'"
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said the company feels the ad, launched last year, could be offensive and that it is no longer appropriate. She said the campaign was officially over before McLean was beheaded, but that some ads are still up and that Greyhound wants them to be removed as quickly as possible.
