Trial resumes in slaying of 3 children

Allan Dwayne Schoenborn will enter the courtroom in Kamloops, B.C., again Friday for the resumption of his trial on first-degree murder charges in the deaths of his three young children.

The trial was adjourned a month ago by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Powers to allow time to schedule psychiatric experts to testify for both the Crown and defence.

Schoenborn, 41, has admitted he stabbed his 10-year-old daughter and suffocated his two sons, aged eight and five.

The children's mother, Darcie Clark, found the children's bodies at her mobile home in Merritt on April 6, 2008. Schoenborn had been looking after them while Clark was away.

Schoenborn testified he killed the children to protect them from sexual abuse, although no evidence had been presented to support his suspicion.

The defence is hoping to prove Schoenborn can't be held criminally responsible for his children's deaths because of a mental disorder.

If the judge — who is hearing the trial without a jury — finds that Schoenborn was not of sound mind at the time of the killings he could be found not guilty and sent to a psychiatric institution instead of prison.

The Crown prosecutor has presented a case in which Schoenborn killed his children as an act of revenge against their mother.