Allan Dwayne Schoenborn was convicted of first-degree murder in the slaying of his three children in April 2008 in Merritt, B.C.
Photograph by: File photo, Canwest News Service
The man who tracked down Allan Schoenborn says he's "very disappointed" he is getting a taste of freedom just three years after killing his three children in British Columbia.
Ten days after Schoenborn left a horrific murder scene for his ex-wife to discover in Merritt, B.C., in 2008, Kim Robinson found him cowering in the woods.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Schoenborn will be getting "escorted leaves" from the mental hospital where he's being held.
"I'm very disappointed," Robinson said. "There isn't a bone in my body . . . that for one minute thinks that that man is insane.
"He knew what he did was wrong. He went and hid. When I found him his biggest concern really was that his wife was still alive. He said to me, 'She's not dead? She didn't off herself?' "
Following a hearing Wednesday, the British Columbia Review Board ruled that Schoenborn will be granted escorted day leaves, at the discretion of Forensic Psychiatric Hospital clinical director Dr. Johann Brink.
Brink said Schoenborn was "compliant," taking medication and learning to cook. Schoenborn argued that he poses no threat because he'd already killed his children and that being locked up for three years was "enough."
Schoenborn said he wanted to "get out and go down to the mall for coffee."
Review board chairman Bernd Walter said in an interview Schoenborn could go swimming or exercise at a local community centre, with escorts present.
"He will have no unnecessary access to the community and no overnight leaves but he could be given escorted day leaves, for example to a recreation centre or for fitness purposes," said Walter.
On April 6, 2008, Schoenborn methodically killed each of his three children in turn, slashing Kaitlynne, 10, and smothering his two boys Max, 8, and Cordon, 5.
He bizarrely posed their bodies, knowing that his ex-wife Darcie Clarke, who had moved with the children to Merritt to escape him, would find them.
Schoenborn was convicted of first-degree murder on Feb. 22, 2010, but the judge ruled he was "not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder." The Crown did not support that finding.
That means Schoenborn did not go to jail. He is living at the low-security Hawthorne House at the Forensic Psychiatric Institute in Port Coquitlam, B.C. By law, his mental status must be reviewed each year.
Crown counsel Lyle Hillaby warned that Schoenborn is "cagey and not to be trusted. We don't believe he was insane — he killed his own children in order to lash out at his wife. He is an angry and volatile individual."
In her victim-impact statement, Darcie Clarke said that when her children were murdered, "I lost my life as well.
"My children were my life. I no longer have any purpose or meaning for my life. I will never get the joy of seeing them grow up and experience life."
Clarke said she is in therapy for "severe depression and anxiety. I spend most of my time indoors and alone."
Clarke said remembering the children's birthdays and the anniversary — Wednesday — of the day they were killed are among her worst moments.
"I have to re-live what I saw when I found them dead every year, just so I can try to keep the man who took their little lives safely away from me and my family."
Clarke said she has no doubt Schoenborn is capable of extreme violence.
"I will never feel safe again because one day Allan will get out and I know now how violent and manipulative he is," said Clarke.
"Please, I beg you to help me feel safe again as well as the public and never let this evil out."
Read more:
Man who found child-killer Schoenborn upset by escorted leaves
