KAMLOOPS, B.C. — A B.C. man accused of killing his three children testified at his first-degree murder trial that he adored his wife, but believed she had repeatedly cheated on him.
In a soft-spoken voice, Allan Schoenborn told the judge that his feelings for his wife were “very genuine” but he believed that she had slept with three different men.
Schoenborn, 41, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 10-year-old Kaitlynne, eight-year-old Max and five-year-old Cordon, who were found dead by their mother in their Merritt, B.C., home in April 2008.
The judge, who is hearing the case without a jury, has heard that Schoenborn confessed to the crime but the defence is arguing that he should be found not criminally responsible for the killings due to mental disorder.
The Crown contends that the murders were an act of revenge against the children’s mother and Schoenborn’s estranged spouse, Darcie Clarke.
Schoenborn recounted to the court Wednesday a history of being admitted to psychiatric wards of hospitals, including an incident when his daughter Kaitlynne was 16 months old.
Fearing she’d been drugged, Schoenborn crashed his truck while racing hear to hospital. Even after it was confirmed she was well, he pushed for further tests until he himself was admitted to hospital.
He spoke of another incident where he believed he smelled semen in his son Max’s hair. After than he didn’t allow the child to play with the neighbours.
Schoenborn said he took the bus to Merritt to see the children prior to their deaths. He’d been separated from their mother for about a year.
He told the court that he arrived in town drunk and went to the police station, “to say I know you know I’m here.”
“I had the feeling I was being watched, anyway. By everyone,” he testified.
Schoenborn has acted bizarrely in court, shouting questions at witnesses and other verbal outbursts from the prisoner’s box.
Schoenborn vanished after the murders and was found 10 days later by a man walking his dog in the woods. He was dehydrated and had suffered self-inflicted wounds.