Close X
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
ADVT 
National

Man Who Killed Children Struggles With Anger Management: Psychiatrist

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 25 May, 2017 12:57 PM
    COQUITLAM, B.C. — A man found not criminally responsible for killing his three children because of a mental disorder is making slow progress but still faces serious anger issues, a psychiatrist says.
     
    Dr. Marcel Hediger told a British Columbia Review Board hearing Wednesday that it's unlikely he would recommend Allan Schoenborn be granted supervised outings into the community within the next year, saying he would first need to see a sustained period of at least six months of healthy anger management.
     
    The board granted the director of a psychiatric hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., the discretion to allow Schoenborn escorted outings into the community two years ago, but he still hasn't been allowed to leave.
     
    "Mr. Schoenborn quite consistently doesn't feel he has a significant anger-management issue," Hediger told the three-person panel.
     
    "He does say he has a short fuse, but that is the extent to which Mr. Schoenborn acknowledges he has a significant management issue."
     
    Hediger said he believes anger played a role when Schoenborn stabbed his 10-year-old daughter Kaitlynne and smothered his sons Max and Cordon, eight and five, at the family's home in Merritt in April 2008. Schoenborn has repeatedly denied that anger factored into the killings, Hediger added.
     
    The hearing ended Wednesday without a conclusion and another date to complete the arguments hasn't been set.
     
    The brother of Schoenborn's former spouse, Mike Clarke, told reporters during a break in proceedings about the toll the process is taking on his family.
     
    "It's a day-by-day thing for my sister," he said. "As time goes by it's getting a little worse for her."
     
    It is clear Schoenborn needs a lot of treatment, Clarke added, saying he wants the man who killed his niece and nephews locked up "until the day he eventually passes away from old age."
     
    Crown attorney Wendy Dawson asked the three-person review panel to reverse a 2015 decision giving the hospital director the discretion to authorize supervised excursions, arguing Schoenborn poses too much of a risk.
     
     
    She said Schoenborn's anger issues are entrenched and that any earlier progress was a ploy to earn privileges from the review board.
     
    Dawson said Schoenborn had gone through nearly three years of cumulative counselling for anger management and he still struggles with applying his lessons in the heat of the moment.
     
    Schoenborn attended the review hearing wearing a collared, blue work shirt and torn jeans. He spent most of the time staring into his lap and slowly rocking back and forth in his seat.
     
    Schoenborn interrupted with an unintelligible comment while Dawson was questioning Hediger about the night of the killings.
     
    "Altruistic was found," Schoenborn said. "This has got to be said."
     
    Barry Long, chairman of the review panel, told Schoenborn he would have his turn to offer his version of events.
     
    Schoenborn apologized, agreeing with Long's suggestion everyone take a five-minute break.
     
    Both the lawyer representing the hospital director and counsel for Schoenborn want the conditions imposed in the 2015 review board decision left unchanged.
     
    Two years after the children were killed, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled Schoenborn was not criminally responsible because he was experiencing psychosis and believed he was protecting his children from sexual abuse, though no evidence was heard suggesting they were being abused.
     
    When the review board granted him escorted community outings, it said Schoenborn was diagnosed as having a delusional disorder, a substance abuse disorder and paranoid personality traits, but that his symptoms have been in remission for years.
     
    The Crown has also filed a separate court application to have Schoenborn designated a high-risk accused, which would end the possibility of the outings and extend the time between annual review hearings up to three years.
     
    The former Conservative government used Schoenborn as an example in 2014 to introduce the new designation, which can be applied to people found not criminally responsible because of mental disorder.
     
    Schoenborn's next appearance in that case is scheduled for mid-June in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    'Why's That Thing In Church?’: Indian Priest Says Women Who Wear Jeans Should Be Drowned

    'Why's That Thing In Church?’: Indian Priest Says Women Who Wear Jeans Should Be Drowned
     Kerala Priest's Rant Against Women Is Viral - Video of priest speaking on women wearing jeans in Church was uploaded on YouTube 11 months ago.

    'Why's That Thing In Church?’: Indian Priest Says Women Who Wear Jeans Should Be Drowned

    Spring Is Coming, But Winter Has 'a Little Bit Of Bite Left,' Forecaster Says

    Spring Is Coming, But Winter Has 'a Little Bit Of Bite Left,' Forecaster Says
    The Weather Network spring forecast calls for Canadians to expect more storms before the wintry weather ends.

    Spring Is Coming, But Winter Has 'a Little Bit Of Bite Left,' Forecaster Says

    Assault Charge Stayed For Northern B.C. Politician Pat Pimm

    VICTORIA — An assault charge against a member of the B.C. legislature has been stayed, the province's Criminal Justice Branch said Monday.

    Assault Charge Stayed For Northern B.C. Politician Pat Pimm

    Canoeist Missing, Presumed Drowned, After Falling Into Lake Near Nanaimo, B.C.

    Canoeist Missing, Presumed Drowned, After Falling Into Lake Near Nanaimo, B.C.
    NANAIMO, B.C. — RCMP say dive teams were planning to search Westwood Lake in Nanaimo, B.C., looking for any sign of a missing man.

    Canoeist Missing, Presumed Drowned, After Falling Into Lake Near Nanaimo, B.C.

    Road-Raged Audi Driver Pleads Guilty After Video Shows Him Mowing Down Man

    Road-Raged Audi Driver Pleads Guilty After Video Shows Him Mowing Down Man
    SAINT JOHN, N.B. — A New Brunswick senior has pleaded guilty to running down a man after he was captured on video racing through a parking lot and striking a pedestrian, sending him flying through the air.

    Road-Raged Audi Driver Pleads Guilty After Video Shows Him Mowing Down Man

    Police To Seek Murder Charge In Death Of Baby Delivered After Mother Shot Dead

    Police To Seek Murder Charge In Death Of Baby Delivered After Mother Shot Dead
    Toronto police say any suspect charged in the fatal shooting of a 33-year-old pregnant woman last year will also be charged in the death of her baby, who was delivered prematurely.

    Police To Seek Murder Charge In Death Of Baby Delivered After Mother Shot Dead