Allan Schoenborn refuses to answer questions, as he seeks escorted day trips

COQUITLAM (NEWS1130) – Convicted child-killer Allan Schoenborn is refusing to answer questions at his BC Review Board hearing over escorted day passes.

This could hurt his chances of being allowed on trips out of his psychiatric hospital in Coquitlam.

Schoenborn spoke his first words of this hearing process, when Crown lawyer Wendy Dawson attempted to question him.

He said he gave all of his answers during his initial trial.

BC NDP Justice Critic Mike Farnworth isn’t happy about this whole process. He says a person is supposed to stay in the psychiatric hospital until deemed better. He feels part of that is answering questions, being accountable, and treatment.

“So if you’re not even prepared to answer questions I think that says a lot about an individual’s state of mind, I think it says a lot about where they’re at in terms of any treatment that they’re receiving and it clearly says to me that they’re not at a point where they should be released.”

Schoenborn’s former brother-in-law Michael Clarke hopes this means the request for day trips will be denied.

“I’d like to see him get better, but I’d also like to see him locked up for a very, very, very long time because of what he’s done to my niece and nephews.”

The hearing is scheduled to run until Friday, but if Schoenborn is not willing to speak, the Board could accelerate the process and decline his request for escorted outings.

Psychologist Dr. Anton Schweighofer says there is no tool to evaluate the chances of whether a patient like Schoenborn would try to escape if he was given an opportunity.

Schweighofer calls this a gap in existing risk assessment measures.

Schoenborn killed his three children, Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5, in Merritt in 2008.

Stacy Galt speaks for the victims’ family and spoke with News1130 earlier today:

” I really hope that the review board understands that we have both sides at heart. We know that people that are mentally ill need help and we know that victims need support. I’m nervous, but I am really positive today because things finally have changed,” says Galt.

This is not Schoenborn’s first Review Board hearing. Galt says at the last one, Schoenborn was sitting just a few feet from her.

“I’m just shaking. You feel sick to your stomach,” she describes.

“His rights should have been taken away when he took those kids’ lives. The horrendousness of what he’s done, I sit there and I try to look at his hands. I can’t help but look at those hands and what he did with them. It was just so horrible. I try not to think about being in that room until I’m in that room.”

Galt tells us she’s “positive” he will be denied daypasses because of his history of violence.

“He’s not getting any better. He’s staying the same. There is no improvement,” she argues. “He’s not doing anything and he has no reason to think that he should be able to… have these passes when he hasn’t done anything to help himself get better. He has no remorse. He doesn’t get the idea that you cannot kill three children and go and walk the streets and have people want you around and to be happy about it. There’s just no way.”

Galt says her cousin, Darcie Clarke, the children’s mother, is doing “fairly well.”

“She just can’t handle this review board process. I couldn’t imagine her being there because I know how hard it is for me… It’s just so difficult, gut-wrenching to go through. She’s holding up okay. I just keep reminding her… be strong for three more days. This process will be over, the law has changed, and we’re just going to be able to breathe and be able to think about something other than the next Review Board hearing.”

In 2010, Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible for the children’s deaths.