Father killed 3 children for revenge, says prosecutor

A man murdered his three children in Merritt, B.C., 18 months ago as an act of revenge against their mother, a Crown prosecutor told a B.C. Supreme Court trial Thursday.

In his opening statement at the trial in Kamloops, prosecutor Glenn Kelt said that the accused, Allan Schoenborn, now 41, wanted Darcie Clarke to suffer, so he killed their daughter and two sons.

A police officer testified that 10-year-old Kaitlynn was found stabbed to death and wrapped in a blanket on her bed, while five-year-old Cordon and eight-year-old Max were smothered and their bodies were found together on a couch .

While the officer was being questioned about the positions of the bodies, Schoenborn spoke up from the prisoner's box saying, "brothers in arms."

Kelt said the prosecution would argue that the fact that the children were killed by different methods, at different times and in different locations, shows intent, and therefore qualifies as first-degree murder.

Schoenborn stood in court with long hair and a scruffy beard and pleaded not guilty to all three murder counts.

The trial was shown a video of the crime scene, revealing a message scrawled in blood on a pillow saying "three gone to Neverland".

Earlier, another prosecutor, Sheri Mark, told the trial Schoenborn has confessed to killing the children and the trial will hinge on his mental state during the killings.

However, she also said the Crown contends that it wasn't mental illness that led to the murders, but the motive for revenge.

Crown lawyers said the children's mother will likely testify next week during what is expected to be a month-long trial before a judge with no jury.  

A massive manhunt for Schoenborn was launched after the mother found the children slain in their mobile home on April 6, 2008.

Their father was found nine days later, emaciated and hiding in the bush just outside of Merritt by a local hunter. Merritt is about 270 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.