Man Who Murdered His 3 Children Granted Unsupervised Leave From Psychiatric Hospital

Allan Schoenborn is shown in this sketch attending a British Columbia Review Board in Coquitlam, B.C. on March 12, 2020. The Canadian Press/Felicity Don

A British Columbia man who murdered his three children 14 years ago and was found not criminally responsible due to mental illness has been granted unsupervised leave from a psychiatric hospital for extended periods of up to 28 days.

In April 2008, Allan Schoenborn, now 54, suffocated and fatally stabbed his three children: Cordon, aged 5, Max, aged 8, and Kaitlynne, aged 10.

Following a hearing by the British Columbia Review Board, his psychiatric hospital’s director on Aug. 8 granted Mr. Schoenborn leave “for the purpose of assisting his reintegration to society.”

Mr. Shoenboern has been under the care of the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital since 2010. He became eligible for extended leave on March 3, but the rationale behind the decision has only now been disclosed in the latest ruling. In 2020, the board granted him unescorted leave at the discretion of the hospital director, while the latest ruling extends the leave to almost a month, allowing overnight stays.

Dave Teixiera, a spokesperson for Mr. Schoenborn’s victims’ family, told Global News he was discouraged by the news of extended leave privileges.

“It’s disappointing but not unexpected. What we’ve seen consistently over the years is the hospitals eager to have Mr. Schoenborn out, not necessarily better,” said Mr. Teixiera.

“It just seems like this is another case of victims being re-victimized, where public safety is not the paramount concern.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Mr. Teixiera but did not receive a response by publication time.

Dr. Robert Lacroix, a psychiatrist at the forensic hospital in Coquitlam, testified at the review hearing that Mr. Schoenborn does not represent a threat to the community and the likelihood of his being involved in a violent altercation is higher inside an institutional setting.

B.C.’s policies concerning psychiatric patients have come under criticism following Mr. Schoenborn’s extended leave and news of the arrest of a man charged with a random triple stabbing on Sept. 10 in Vancouver’s Chinatown. The suspect, Blair Evan Donnelly, was on a day pass from a forensic psychiatric facility in the Lower Mainland.

Mr. Donnelly was detained at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam in 2008, after being found not criminally responsible due to mental illness in the stabbing death of his 16-year-old daughter in Kitimat, B.C., in November 2006.

British Columbia Premier David Eby told reporters he is “white-hot” angry at the suspect’s release. He said the B.C. government “will ensure an independent person looks into the specifics of this case; the decision-making process. How we arrived at this awful place.”