カナダで語学留学

先月末に、カナダで起きた事件です。

みなさんの中には、カナダへ留学中、
グレイハウンドバスを利用して
カナダ各地を旅行する人もいると思います。

そのアルバータ州エドモントンから
マニトバ州ウィニペグへ向かう長距離バスで、
身の毛もよだつような事件が起きました。

突然、22歳の男性が、
隣に座っていた男にナイフでめった刺しにされたんです。
しかもその後は・・・。

書くのもためらわれるので、こちらを読んでください。
http://www.afpbb.com/article/disaster-accidents-crime/crime/2501097/3189066

また、以下National Post（英語）からです。
犯人について、詳しく書いてあります。

Man accused in stabbing 'needed help'
Li worked series of low-wage jobs

James Cowan, National Post; With Files From Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Since his arrest last week for the murder and beheading of a fellow bus passenger in Manitoba, a picture has emerged of Vince Li as a quiet immigrant who worked a string of low-wage jobs on the Prairies.

The 40-year-old was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation during his second court appearance yesterday. He is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus outside Portage la Prairie last Wednesday.

Mr. Li immigrated to Canada from China. While initial reports suggest he arrived in 2004, the court heard yesterday that he arrived three years earlier. He and his wife, Anna, initially settled in Winnipeg where he reportedly found work as a forklift driver.

The couple later joined the Grant Memorial church, where the accused found employment as a night janitor. Tom Castor, the church's pastor, has said that Mr. Li was employed by the church for less than a year beginning in 2004 and never behaved in an unusual fashion. "Of the people who knew him -- this makes no sense to any of them," he told reporters.

The pastor also said Mr. Li passed a criminal background check and received references from members of the local Chinese community.

Some of the couple's friends, however, have said that Mr. Li clearly had mental issues but refused multiple offers for medical help.

Acquaintances speculated he was schizophrenic and suffered from delusional behaviour. After receiving a traffic ticket, he allegedly told friends that "they were after me."

"He needed help, but he just wouldn't get it," a family friend told the Winnipeg Free Press this weekend.

The accused also reportedly disappeared on bus trips to places such as The Pas, Man., without warning his wife, friends said. He later claimed to be looking for real estate to purchase. While friends report that Mr. Li lived a stable life in Winnipeg with a wide social circle, that ended abruptly when he moved to Edmonton several years ago.

Reports suggest he worked a string of jobs, including spending time at a McDonald's and working for 13 months as a newspaper carrier.

He recently served as a night janitor at a Wal-Mart where coworkers say he rarely spoke and spent much of his time in the automotive department. He was reportedly fired last month following a fight with a fellow employee.

Following his firing, Mr. Li returned to work as a newspaper distributor. His last day at work for the company was last Monday, two days before the murder.

Media reports suggest he told his employer that he needed to attend a job interview in Winnipeg while his wife said there was a family emergency. Vincent Augert, his employer at the newspaper job, said they would occasionally meet to chat, but rarely discussed Mr. Li's personal life.

"Something wasn't quite right, but he wouldn't talk about it," Mr. Augert said.

Neighbours at the apartment building where the accused killer worked described a well-dressed man who never spoke.

"He was very unfriendly," one neighbour told the Edmonton Journal. "He would never keep the elevator open. The striking characteristic for this guy is that he is really anti-social."

Mr. Li's wife says he recently spent four days in an Alberta psychiatric ward but police are still trying to confirm these claims, the court heard yesterday. He had been exhibiting "bizarre and unusual behaviour" recently, according to Joyce Dalmyn, a Crown attorney. The suspect is on suicide watch and has barely spoken since his capture.

世の中にはいろいろな人がいますねぇ（溜息）。

怖がらせるわけではありませんが、
カナダでこういう事件があったことを知ることは、
決して悪いことではないと思います。

残念ながら、日本にいても、
何らかの被害に遭ってしまう方はいるでしょう。

でも、これがカナダだったら、
加害者や警察とのやりとりも、病院での治療も、すべて英語であり、
日本の家族も簡単には現状確認ができなくなります。

日本にいるより、さらに何倍も大変な状況になってしまうのです。

今回の事件のように、避けられない場合もあると思います。

でも、留学中は気を引き締めて、
できる限り安易な行動は謹んでくださいね。

そして、カナダ留学を
一生の思い出となる素敵な時間にしてください。