Mother of slain kids lives in fear, won’t know if killer allowed into community

COQUITLAM, B.C. – The mother of three children killed by their father says she lives in constant worry for her safety following a board's decision over escorted outings for Allan Schoenborn.

Darcie Clarke says in a statement she is disappointed in last week's ruling from the BC Review Board to leave it up to a psychiatric hospital to decide if Schoenborn should be granted the outings into the community.

A B.C. Supreme Court heard during Schoenborn's trial that he killed his children in their Merritt, B.C., home in April 2008 because he believed he was saving them from a life of sexual and physical abuse.

He was found not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.

The review board first gave the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., the discretion to grant Schoenborn escorted outings in 2015 and last week's decision made no changes to his custodial conditions.

Crown counsel had also asked the three-person panel to require the hospital notify family members and police of any planned outings, but the ruling did not contain any such provisions.

A spokesman for the review board says the panel's written reasons for the decision will be released within 40 days.

Schoenborn has never been granted an escorted outing, but defence lawyer Dante Abbey told the board the possibility of trips outside the hospital is a useful tool for Schoenborn's treatment team to motivate him in his recovery.

The psychiatric hospital did not immediately reply to a request for comment.