BC man charged with killing kids not responsible due to mental disorder: lawyer

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - The lawyer for a Merritt, B.C., man charged with murdering his three children says he will argue his client should be found not criminally responsible for the killings because of a mental disorder.
Defence lawyer Peter Wilson opened his case in B.C. Supreme Court Monday by telling the judge he will focus solely on Allan Schoenborn's mental health.
Schoenborn is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 10-year-old Kaitlynne, eight-year-old Max and five-year-old Cordon and is expected to testify at the trial.
The Crown closed its case against Schoenborn on Monday after calling a psychiatrist who testified Schoenborn told him he killed his kids to protect them from being victimized at school.
Dr. Ronald Chale said Schoenborn told him he was troubled by the images left in his mind by last April's killings because he thought the murders would be quick and easy but they didn't go as planned.
"He said he would leave the difficult issue to be worked out between himself and God," Chale said. "He said he thought it would be easy and clean."
"I took that to mean there was resistance and it wasn't as easy to kill a human being as he thought it would be."
A pathologist also told the trial that Schoenborn's two sons were likely smothered while Kaitlynne died of stab wounds to the head and neck. Dr. John Stefanelli said the daughter also had wounds on one of her hands consistent with efforts to defend herself.
A string of defence witnesses testified Monday, including staff at the school attended by the children.
Louise Danielson, a playground supervisor, said Schoenborn was at the school three days before the killings.
Danielson watched as Schoenborn sat with his daughter on the grass, talked with her for a bit and kissed her on the forehead before he left.
Danielson said Kaitlynne then went to the playground to talk with her friends, when Schoenborn suddenly appeared and started yelling at one of the other girls. Danielson said the child ran behind her to hide.
"He got closer to me, he yelled, 'Are you so deaf you can't see that my daughter is being . . .,"' Danielson said, suddenly stopping her testimony as she started to cry. She sat for a moment in the witness box, collecting herself, before she continued.
"He said, 'Are you so deaf you can't see that my daughter is being bullied? Are you so daft you can't do anything about it?"' Danielson told the judge.
Schoenborn grabbed Kaitlynne's hand and led her crying into the school, she said.
Wilson asked Danielson what she thought of Schoenborn's reaction.
"I felt that, from my perspective, she was not being bullied. She was not crying. If she was, I would have approached her and her group," Danielson said.
"What did you think of his reaction," Wilson asked.
"I felt it was an overreaction," she said. "It was inappropriate to what was happening."
The children's bodies were discovered by their mother April 6, 2008. Schoenborn vanished after the murders and was found 10 days later by a man walking his dog in the woods.