The B.C. man found not criminally responsible for killing his three children has taken about 20 escorted trips out into the community, a spokesperson for the victims’ family says.
A B.C. Review Board hearing on Thursday marked the first time the public has learned that Allan Schoenborn has been outside of the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.
The children’s family, represented by family friend Dave Teixeira, has long fought for Schoenborn to never be allowed out in the public, saying he is still a threat, despite the review board granting the hospital the discretion to grant him escorted outings in 2015.
Schoenborn is now seeking the ability to take limited trips into the community without an escort, again at the hospital director’s discretion.
“What we heard is over the course of the last year, he’s had 20 escorted leaves into the community,” said Teixeira. “We feel this is the slippery slope — that once the director has been given the right to grant unescorted leaves, that will be what’s happening here in the community.”
Dr. Robert Lacroix told the three-member panel that Schoenborn’s progress in treatment has been positive.
But Teixeira said he believes Schoenborn is still dangerous, pointing to three recent violent incidents with other patients.
Schoenborn has been held at the hospital since 2010 after being convicted of killing his 10-year-old daughter and two sons, aged eight and five, in 2008 in Merritt.
His B.C. Supreme Court trial heard he believed he was saving them from a life of sexual and physical abuse.
– with files from The Canadian Press
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