B.C. public safety minister slams Schoenborn name change

Last Updated April 18, 2024 3:30 pm.

B.C.'s public safety minister isn't mincing words when it comes to a convicted child killer's name change.

Mike Farnworth says it's "absolutely outrageous" that someone like Allan Schoenborn wants to change his name and not have the public know what it is.

"I think everybody would be concerned. The idea that someone, whether this individual or another individual that's committed an absolutely heinous crime, can change their name without notification to the public — that's just wrong," he said Thursday.

"That is absolutely wrong and just not acceptable."

The minister's comments come days after Schoenborn's request to have his new legal name be redacted from the BC Review Board's decisions was rejected.

Farnworth says the man lost the right to keep his new name secret when he murdered his three children.

"I think it is absolutely outrageous that someone who has murdered children wants to be able to change their name and that the public doesn't know about it, that it is done on the sly. Quite frankly, that's just not acceptable … I'm just disgusted by it," he said.

On Wednesday, Schoenborn's review board hearing was unexpectedly adjourned after his lawyer announced he couldn't represent the man in the proceeding due to some apparent conflicts with the board's chair.

"I felt that, for a variety of reasons, which I can't really get into, it would not be helpful for Mr. Schoenborn for me to stay involved for this particular proceeding. I will still act as his counsel for other matters as they come up but this particular proceeding, between this particular board, it will not be appropriate for me to remain on," lawyer Rishi Gill told CityNews after the hearing.

The proceeding was being held to determine whether Schoenborn should be given more freedom from the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam. He has been incarcerated at the facility since 2010, after he was found not criminally responsible for killing his three children in Merritt in 2008.

Schoenborn told the review board Wednesday he wanted to represent himself, but members expressed some concerns about that decision.

Instead of continuing the hearing, the hearing was adjourned until Schoenborn can find a new lawyer, which he's been instructed to do within a week.

In the past, Schoenborn has been allowed unescorted overnight visits at the hospital director's discretion for periods of up to 28 days.