The B.C. Review Board hearing for child killer Allan Schoenborn has been scheduled to resume Feb. 26.
Schoenborn's annual hearing, at which he asked for escorted day passes from the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, began on Feb. 12 but did not wrap up by the end of the day and will continue next Thursday.
He has been at the hospital since 2010, when he was found not criminally responsible for the murders of his three children - 10-year-old Kaitlynne, eight-year-old Max and five-year-old Cordon - in his ex-wife's Merritt home in April 2008. Schoenborn spent about two weeks hiding in the woods after the killings but was caught when he attempted to get to Kamloops for food.
At the hearing last week, psychiatrist Dr. Marcel Hediger said Schoenborn's condition has improved with medication and anger management therapy, and, despite the unpredictable nature of being out in the community posed certain risks, he believes Schoenborn would be ready in the coming year to go on carefully planned escorted day passes.
Crown counsel Wendy Dawson suggested otherwise, noting Schoenborn has participated in no programs other than anger management, lives in a highly controlled atmosphere and has continued to react with angry outbursts when provoked by other patients.
Dawson also detailed Schoenborn's history of escaping custody and his disregard for court orders, emphasizing the potential risk of him escaping while on an escorted day pass.
Outside the hearing last week Stacey Galt, the cousin of Darcie Clarke, Schoenborn's ex-wife, said she believes Schoenborn will do and say whatever it takes to get out, knowing this could be his last chance to avoid being labelled "high risk" under Bill C-14. She also said Clarke lives in fear of him escaping and finding her.
Bill C-14, the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, can extend review hearings to every three years for those deemed high risk.
Schoenborn would either consent to having the hearings extended or, if the board is satisfied that the condition of the accused is not likely to improve, they could stipulate that detention remained necessary for a period up to three years.
@spayneTC
