The British Columbia Review Board has granted a one-year conditional discharge to a B.C. man who killed his three children in 2008 but was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Under the conditions of the discharge, Allan Schoenborn would be required to receive treatment from a psychiatric clinic, and to return to stay at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam if the board orders him to do so.
Schoenborn must also report any intimate relationships he engages in, must maintain good behavior, and is strictly forbidden to possess or use any weapons or drugs.
Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West expressed anger at the review board’s decision, and said he was concerned that Schoenborn would eventually push for a full discharge.
“I am outraged by the B.C. Review Board’s slippery slope normalization of someone who killed their children. A conditional discharge is not a minor administrative step. It is part of a process that moves him closer to greater freedom,” he wrote on X.
“This is an individual who since incarcerated has had incidents of verbal aggression and threatening behaviour toward staff and in a previous hearing said the public should ‘lighten up’.”
John Rustad, member of the Legislative Assembly for Nechako Lakes and former leader of the BC Conservatives, also objected to the board’s decision.
“Today’s decision by the BC Review Board to grant Allan Schoenborn a conditional discharge is wrong. … He killed his own kids,” Rustad wrote. “He should not be getting any kind of discharge, conditional or otherwise. After what he did, the public has every right to expect that he remains under the strictest supervision for the rest of his life.”
In April 2008, Schoenborn’s three children—Kaitlynne, 10, Max, 8, and Cordon, 5—were found dead at their family home in Merritt, B.C. The children’s mother returned home to find that Kaitlynne had been stabbed to death, while Max and Cordon were smothered. Schoenborn was arrested after a 10-day search and had been detained at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled in 2010 that Schoenborn was experiencing psychosis at the time of the children’s deaths and that he was not criminally responsible.
The Review Board’s latest disposition grants Schoenborn a one-year conditional discharge, allowing him to live in the community under strict conditions.
In 2021, Schoenborn legally changed his name to Ken John Johnson, prompting the B.C. government to pass legislation blocking individuals convicted of serious crimes from changing their names.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
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