Hearing for B.C. man who killed his 3 children adjourned over outburst, legal issues
CBC
A hearing to decide whether a B.C. killer could continue to go out in public unescorted ended abruptly and without a decision on Wednesday, after the man shouted at members of the B.C. Review Board and his lawyer quit the case.
Allan Schoenborn yelled an expletive as the board chair asked his treating psychiatrist about what risks he may pose to children in public.
"If a child gets on the train, [do] you want me to get off the train? No booze, no women, no alcohol, no drugs and no children: Is that what it's going to be?" Schoenborn asked.
Schoenborn's outburst and concurrent legal issues derailed Wednesday's hearing at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital (FPH) in Coquitlam, B.C., where Schoenborn has been institutionalized since 2010.
In 2008, Schoenborn stabbed and smothered his children Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5, inside the family trailer in Merritt, B.C.
An earlier trial found he was experiencing psychosis at the time of the killings and believed he was saving his children from sexual and physical abuse.
Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible and in 2017, a B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled that he doesn't meet the criteria to be designated as a high-risk offender.
At his most recent B.C. Review Board hearing in 2022, Schoenborn was granted unescorted overnight visits outside the hospital up to 28 days long, terms that were renewed in 2023 after he declined to have an annual review hearing.
Wednesday's hearing was to determine whether Schoenborn must remain in treatment for another 12 months or receive a conditional or full discharge, which neither his defence team nor counsel for the attorney general of B.C. advocated for.
However, Schoenborn exploded at members of the board shortly before 2 p.m. PT, when FPH medical director Dr. Sophie Ahoury told board chair Brenda Edwards that he does show signs of some potential risks.
"Let's go. This is bullshit," Schoenborn told defence lawyer Rishi Gill at the end of the outburst. "Can we get to reality?"
Schoenborn left the hearing room as Edwards called a recess.
After proceedings resumed, Gill applied to adjourn the hearing until Schoenborn could get a new lawyer.
Gill accused board members of giving him "dagger eyes" earlier in the day and not treating Schoenborn in a "procedurally fair way," according to Edwards.
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