Schoenborn not criminally responsible for killing his kids

KAMLOOPS – A British Columbia man has been found not criminally responsible for the 2008 murders of his three children.

Allan Schoenborn meant to kill his daughter and sons but psychotic delusions robbed him of his ability to know what he was doing was wrong, a judge in the B.C. Interior city of Kamloops ruled Monday.

"I find that Mr. Schoenborn did commit the first-degree murder of each of his children as described in the indictment, but is not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder," wrote B.C. Supreme Court Judge Robert Powers in his ruling.

Schoenborn, 41, had pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murders of Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5, who were found dead in the family trailer in Merritt, B.C., in April 2008.

Their mother, Schoenborn’s former common-law wife Darcie Clarke, made the gruesome discovery after she left the children alone with their father and spent the night at her mother’s house. Her two sons had been smothered and her daughter stabbed to death.

Police launched an extensive manhunt and Schoenborn was arrested 10 days after the murder in the hills above Merritt, about 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

Powers on Monday agreed with the defence arguments, citing evidence of Schoenborn’s mental illness, as well as psychotic behaviour in the months leading up to the killings.

"Any reasonable or rational person would know that it was wrong. However, due to his psychosis at the time, he was not able to make that decision," he said.

The judge rejected the Crown’s assertion Schoenborn killed his children to get revenge on Clarke.

Schoenborn admitted to killing his children but testified during his three-month trial that he feared they were being sexually abused and that killing them was the only way to end their suffering.

"Mr. Schoenborn, if anything, was overprotective," Powers said Monday. "The irony is that the real danger to the children was Mr. Schoenborn himself and none of the dangers that he imagined in his mind."

The B.C. Review Board will now decide on Schoenborn’s fate. Powers said he will remain in custody until he appears before the board in the next 90 days.

Outside the courthouse, defence lawyer Peter Wilson said Powers gave a thoughtful and comprehensive judgment.

"It was the right result," said Wilson. "It shows the system works. It’s clear Mr. Schoenborn was mentally ill. He loved his children. What he did didn’t make any sense. He loved them."

Schoenborn’s trial, heard without a jury, began on Oct. 5.

The judge found that the killer was suffering from psychosis at the time he murdered his children, but that he tends to hide his mental illness, which will make him very difficult to treat.

"Mr. Schoenborn is a person that is extremely self-absorbed and self-centred," the judge said. "He sees himself as the major part of every event that goes on around him. He is a man concerned about himself and his feelings more than anything else."

The judge added: "He tends to downplay his own mental illness or to disguise it. This may a product of his personality or his psychosis, especially the paranoid elements of both. I accept Dr. O’Shaughnessy’s opinion that he will be almost impossible to treat. I suspect it will be extremely difficult to treat and know whether his illness is actually under control or whether he is merely suppressing the symptoms."

The full judgment is available online: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/10/02/2010BCSC0220.htm