Allan Schoenborn, the man who murdered his three children in his ex-wife's home in April 2008, will have to wait to hear whether he'll be granted escorted day passes in the community.
A hearing before the BC Review Board on Thursday that was expected to take half a day closed at 4:30 p.m. with still more witnesses to be questioned.
Deborah Lovett, the lawyer representing the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital director, and Schoenborn's lawyer, Scott Hicks, consented to Schoenborn staying in the secure facility at Colony Farm but asked for escorted day passes. Crown counsel Wendy Dawson opposed any community access except for medical necessity.
For much of the day psychiatrist Dr. Marcel Hediger was questioned about Schoenborn's mental well-being, history of angry outbursts, his criminal record and propensity for escaping custody and what - if any - progress he had made in his treatment.
Although Schoenborn suffers from delusional disorder, paranoid personality traits and substance use issues, Hediger said Schoenborn had been responding well to anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety medication as well as therapeutic intervention.
In the past five years Schoenborn has participated in anger management courses but no other programs, Dawson noted, and he had made no effort to further his Grade 9 education. She suggested that Schoenborn's relatively good behaviour could be attributed to his isolation, noting he sleeps for about 14 hours each night and during the day often naps, watches television or interacts with only a few select co-patients.
That isolation meant there was little opportunity for Schoenborn's behaviour to be tested, Dawson said, but his psychologist noted Schoenborn was recently granted full access to the Colony Farm grounds and was therefore interacting with more people in larger settings.
Hediger said Schoenborn has been involved in only one physically violent incident in the past year and several incidents of verbal incidents but these issues primarily linked to a specific patient. That patient was moved to another area in September and since then there have been no incidents.
And while Hediger said Schoenborn continues to suffer from cognitive distortions and paranoid personality traits, in which he tends to feel others are against him or out to "get him" in some way, he has demonstrated "significant improvement" in many other areas, including his irritability, tolerance for frustration, narcissism, his insight into his mental illness and ability to take responsibility for his actions.
As a result, Hediger felt Schoenborn would be ready in the coming year to go on escorted day passes.
"Our core responsibility when dealing with an individual who has been found not criminally responsible is public safety," Hediger told the Review Board. "At the same time one of our responsibilities is to attempt a safe community reintegration."
Hediger said the day pass would need to be carefully planned but "our recommendation over the next year is that it's potentially possible for us to achieve that."
In the Crown's cross-examination Dawson questioned whether Schoenborn could be trusted in the unpredictable outside world, suggesting his reduced reactivity to co-patients calling him a "child killer" and other derogatory names in recent years could be attributed to the controlled hospital environment and the work of staff to minimize stress.
Dawson also emphasized Schoenborn's history of escaping custody and his disregard for court orders, noting if he escaped while on a day pass he could well disappear into the nearby forested areas - much like he did in Merritt after murdering his children.
"Do you still regard Mr. Schoenborn as presenting a serious risk to causing physical or psychological harm to a member of the public despot almost five years of treatment?" Dawson asked.
"Yes," replied Hediger.
Outside the hearing, Stacey Galt, the cousin of Darcie Clarke, Schoenborn's ex-wife - and the mother of the three children he murdered - said she was shocked to learn Schoenborn had access to the hospital grounds and Clarke is terrified he'll escape and find her.
Galt believes Schoenborn will do and say whatever it takes to get out and knows this may be his last chance, so he's on his "best behaviour" in the hospital to avoid being labelled "high risk" under Bill C-14.
Under the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act, an individual declared high-risk can have his review board hearings extended from once each year to every three years.
But Galt said she learned Thursday morning that even if Schoenborn is deemed to be a high risk, and the Crown requests his next hearing take place three years from now, Schoenborn has to agree to the terms.
"We screamed from the mountain top that victims need a voice," Galt said outside the hospital. "What was all that fight for?"
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