Crown seeks ‘high-risk’ label for mentally ill dad who killed three children
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — The Crown will argue that a mentally ill British Columbia man who killed his three children has a decades-long history of violence, a court has heard.
Prosecutors opened their case Monday in B.C. Supreme Court seeking a “high-risk accused” designation for Allan Schoenborn, 48, who was found not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder for the April 2008 slayings.
It is the most high-profile case of its kind in Canada involving the designation created by the former Conservative government. Former prime minister Stephen Harper announced the change with the family of Schoenborn’s victims in February 2013, but mental health experts said its treatment approach isn’t based on science and doesn’t increase public safety.
Schoenborn stabbed his 10-year-old daughter Kaitlynne and smothered his two sons Max and Cordon, eight and five, at their Merritt, B.C., mobile home.