Merritt child killer Allan Schoenborn has been granted un-escorted day trips into the community for the first time.

The BC Review board today granted Schoenborn’s request to make short visits outside the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam. He has been granted escorted leaves in the past, and the un-escorted leaves will be at the discretion of the hospital.

With this decision, Schoenborn will be able to apply for un-escorted day passes, but there is no guarantee that he will get them. He has been held at the Coquitlam facility since 2010, after being found not criminally responsible for killing his three young children in Merritt in 2008.

Dave Teixeira, a spokesperson for the victims’ family, says there is also no condition for the hospital to notify police, family or community in advance of these outings, if they do happen.

“This is someone who cannot control his impulses and will injure for who he perceives to be a slight. It’s absolutely disgusting,” Teixeira says.

“In all this, what’s been lost are the true victims here. That’s Kaitlyn, Corden, Max, and even Darcie Clarke, who passed away herself a year ago,” he continues, referencing Schoenborn’s three children and their mother. “Their names were not uttered once in the BC Review Board hearing… the BC Review Board seems hellbent on allowing this child killer back out in the community, and that’s what they’ve done.”