Canadian True Crime - The Good Doctor [2]

Episode Date: October 9, 2024

[Part 2 of 2] The surprising conclusion to the story of Dr. John Schneeberger, the crimes he committed, the lengths he went to get away with them — and the aftermath.* Additional content warning: this series includes some details of sexual assault, including of an underage person. Please take care when listening.The intention of this series is to take a detailed look back at a shocking crime sensationalized through headlines and explore how it impacted the community. Some names have been changed to respect the privacy of those involved.Recommended resource: Forensic Files: Season 6, Episode 18 - Bad BloodListen ad-free and early:CTC premium feeds are available on Amazon Music (included with Prime), Apple Podcasts, Patreon and Supercast, giving you access 24 hours early without the ads. Please note: case-based episodes will always be available to all, we will never put them exclusively behind a paywall.Canadian true crime donates monthly to those facing injustice. This month we have donated to Women’s Shelters Canada. Find a shelter near you by going to sheltersafe dot ca.Full list of resources, information sources and credits:See the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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on trial in relation to the drugging and sexual assault of his former patient Kathy and his own teenage stepdaughter, Sarah. The prosecution's case was that when Kathy came to the hospital in Kipling that Halloween evening, emotionally distraught, Dr. Schneeberger failed to care for her. Instead, he injected her with versed, a potentially dangerous drug, then raped her and left her in the room by herself. He was willing to risk his own patient's safety to obtain sexual gratification. And with Sarah, John Schneeberger's stepdaughter, the prosecution told the court that he began drugging and sexually assaulting her when she was just 13 years old and continued for the next two years until she told her mother. It was by this point 1999, seven years since Kathy drove to Regina to get a rape kit performed. Both she and Sarah testified at trial. John Schneeberger's wife Michelle did as well. She now shared two young children with him

but had ended their marriage as soon as her teenage daughter Sarah confided that he'd sexually assaulted her. John Schneeberger had also been charged with obstructing the course of justice by providing false blood samples to dupe a DNA test and get away with sexual assault. The court heard evidence that he took blood samples

from a hospital patient named Danny and somehow passed them off as his own on three separate occasions in a supervised lab environment. But the investigation did not uncover how he did it. The prosecution presented a cardiovascular surgeon who testified about one possibility described by the media as a bizarre theory taken straight from science fiction. The Crown finished presenting their evidence and it was now time for the defence.

The defence's case was that Dr John Schneeberger did not drug and sexually assault Cathy. In fact, she wasn't the victim at all. She was painted as an unreliable witness, a broke, unwed single mother who needed money and was in love with Dr. Schneeberger. And about his stepdaughter Sarah, the defense argued that she just didn't like John and had taken details from the rumors going around about Kathy's allegations to fabricate her own. Sarah's testimony was described as inconsistent and vague in places, especially during the incidents where she claimed her stepfather drugged her and then sexually assaulted her. The prosecution had pointed out that

Versed has properties that induce amnesia and quote, that is precisely the intent of the person who administered the drug to take away her memory, end quote. Dr John Schneeberger, by that time 38 years old, testified in his own defence, denying that he had ever drugged or sexually assaulted his stepdaughter Sarah. He had also been charged with endangering her life by administering the drug Versed at their home, where there was no emergency medical equipment in case of respiratory failure. One of his own partners at the medical practice had testified that injecting a person with Versed outside of a hospital without the presence

of resuscitation equipment is consistent with putting their life in danger. But John's rebuttal to this point was that because he didn't drug or assault his stepdaughter, he couldn't possibly have endangered her life. Case closed. In relation to Kathy's allegations, John confirmed that he did administer Versed to her that night in hospital for medical purposes He said to calm her down after she came in threatening to kill her ex-boyfriend

But he denied sexually assaulting her As you'll recall Kathy phoned the hospital in Kipling the next day to ask where else she might be able to get a rape Kit done. She said she was surprised when Dr Schneeberger called her back asking what happened. Kathy had testified that she did not confront him but told him that something really bad happened to her at the hospital. He then responded by telling her about wanderers or elderly patients on the loose. She declined his offer to perform the rape kit himself. But John's version of this interaction was different. He testified that Cathy phoned him directly in a confrontational manner and told him that

something bad had happened to her the night before. He said she mentioned wanting a pap smear test, which he said led him to presume she was referring to a sexual assault. This was a strange comment to make, especially by a doctor testifying on the stand, and the prosecution jumped on it. A pap smear test is for early markers of cervical cancer. It has nothing to do with sexual assault. And Kathy herself never mentioned anything about a pap smear to the hospital in Regina, to the RCMP or anyone else.

But John wasn't finished. He testified that as the conversation was ending, Kathy told him quote, You know, I have your evidence. John testified that he considered this to be yet another threatening comment. He was already shocked that Kathy apparently believed she had been sexually assaulted at the hospital and now it seems she was also accusing him of being the perpetrator and because of her final comment about having his evidence he became suspicious that she intended to frame him for the

sexual assault. When the RCMP came knocking less than a week later he knew his suspicions were correct, which is why he did what he did next. John testified that he knew he would soon be asked to submit a blood sample, which would likely be taken in a lab under supervision. He also knew that his blood would certainly be a DNA match to the semen sample taken from Kathy's rape kit, but not because he sexually assaulted her. On the stand, John Schneeberger denied her allegations outright,

and instead accused her of illegally obtaining some of his bodily substances. John said he believed that the day Kathy was released from hospital, she got into his house which he said had been unlocked. He claimed it was possible that she went through his garbage, stole his used condom and put the contents of it inside her on her jeans and her underwear. Then later that day, she drove to the hospital in Regina to get a rape kit. John testified that this was the primary reason he did not want to give a sample of his own blood

to the police. He added that he didn't trust the police because of his experiences living in apartheid South Africa. So after much consideration, he concluded that the only way to clear himself and distance himself from Cathy's complaint was, quote, to provide a false blood sample. To everyone's surprise, including the prosecution, Dr. John Schneeberger was confirming that he did use false blood samples. But not to obstruct the course of justice, he claimed, it was to prevent Kathy from framing him for sexual assault. John confirmed that

he had taken additional blood samples from the hospital patient, Danny, and stored them separately in a fridge. He added an anti-clotting agent to keep the sample from coagulating or thickening. His strategy was very similar to what the prosecution had proposed. He used a long, thin surgical tube called a Penrose drain, which is typically used to drain fluid from a wound. In this case, he was using it for a different purpose, to imitate a vein. He testified that he filled the tube with Danny's blood,

then took to his own bicep with a scalpel. He created a wound so he could surgically insert the thin tube under the skin of his left arm around his bicep. He pushed it down to just past his elbow, where a lab technician would soon be looking for a vein to insert a syringe into. Then he set off for the lab to give his sample under RCMP supervision. The lab technician had reported that as they were trying to find a vein, Dr. Schneeberger didn't want him to roll his sleeve too high. He then intervened and insisted on taking the sample himself.

John testified that he surgically removed the tube from his arm after he left the lab. When he was asked to give a second sample nine months later, he did the exact same thing, surgically inserting the tube under his skin to mimic a vein and filling it with more of Danny's blood. Then he set off to the lab again. This second sample was supervised by the commander of the Kipling RCMP detachment, Corporal Hunstra, who observed that Dr. John Schneeberger seemed to be reluctant to roll his sleeve up too high.

The lab technician had testified that his vein felt unusually hard instead of the usual spongy feeling. But Dr. Schneeberger suddenly ordered her to give that to me and grabbed the needle, inserting it himself. But they all noticed that there didn't seem to be much blood coming out, and what did come out wasn't the usual bright red color, it was darker. After two vials were half filled with what was now known to be someone else's old blood, Dr. Schneeberger withdrew the needle from his arm and handed the vials over. He testified that when he got home, he surgically removed the tube from his arm, just like he

did the first time. He told both hospital employees and his wife that glass had cut him. The results cleared him for a second time and the RCMP closed Cathy's complaint. But two years after that, in April of 1996, John testified he became paranoid that he was under investigation again. He preemptively assumed that he might be asked to voluntarily provide a third blood sample, and he again wanted to seem like he was cooperative and didn't have anything to hide. But he also still believed Kathy was trying to frame him

and he wanted to make sure he was ready to prevent it. So for a third time, John took the tiny sample he still had left from hospital patient Danny, surgically inserted the tube into his arm, threaded it down and decided to leave it there indefinitely. He was sure it wouldn't be too long before he was asked for the sample. He waited and waited for more than six months and then the RCMP asked him. It was by that point November of 1996, four years since Kathy's visit to the hospital on Halloween evening that kicked all of this off. Jean Roney, the serology expert that took John's blood at the RCMP forensic lab that day,

had testified about John telling her not to take the blood from his finger because of his rare medical condition that caused easily bruised fingers. That was obviously a lie. The third sample was recorded on video and that video was later released by the police and shown on an episode of Forensic Files titled Bad Blood. It clearly shows John's sleeve is rolled up just enough for Jean to insert the needle into his vein, but not any higher. John watches intently as she struggles to get any blood to flow from his vein.

Jean Rooney had testified that this was very odd because the vein was larger and more prominent than she would have expected. It looked like a good vein for getting a sample from. You can even see the vein in the video footage, it visibly sticks out and seems to suddenly end just below John's elbow. After multiple attempts, Jean Rony saw some blood start to come out, but it was more like a slow trickle. She had testified, usually you can put the vacuum container on the end of a needle and the blood will actually spurt out.

But it didn't look right either. The video shows Jean as she examines the sample out the back to prepare it for DNA testing. She gives a very awkward smile and says quote, It's a little strange and that the blood doesn't look kind of fresh. I don't know. She testified that the blood was very dark in color. The only time she had seen blood that color was when the blood was old. And that's why they weren't able to get a DNA profile from it. By that point it had been four years since Dr. Schneeberger retained some of Danny's blood sample. The blood was now old, thick and had degraded to a point where there was no DNA left.

It wouldn't have mattered if they got a bigger sample from the vein. John Schneeberger testified that after this third blood test he had to cut into his bicep again to get the tube out because it had been in his arm so long the skin had healed over. Everyone in the courtroom was stunned to hear all of this. Did John Schneeberger actually believe that after Cathy was released from the hospital, she broke into his home, stole his used condom and put his semen inside of her, then drove to Regina to have a rape kit performed that night, all to frame him for sexual assault for unknown reasons. It seemed a bit too much. That was when he was answering his own lawyer's questions.

Now it was the prosecution's turn. John Schneeberger had just finished testifying in his own defence. On cross-examination, the Crown prosecutor suggested that it was a leap for him to conclude that Cathy had been trying to frame him. It was ludicrous and didn't even pass the laugh test. And quote, you became so convinced that she had your semen that you cut yourself open and put Danny's blood in your body? This is exactly what John claimed he had done. And further, he believed Cathy's refusal to accept the blood test DNA results was even more evidence that she had framed him. When asked who would want to do that, John said he believed there were some residents of Kipling who wanted him out of the town

and suggested Cathy could have been working with one of them since she had known financial issues. He also questioned that if she was so groggy and dizzy during the assault as she claimed, how did she know with certainty that the semen sample had come from him. And besides, why would any doctor sexually assault their own patient in an unlocked hospital exam room and not clean up afterwards? Dr John Schneeberger had explanations for everything else as well, most notably why he had been taking and keeping vials of Versed at his home, his office and his cottage by the lake. He claimed he had been depressed over his workload and his marriage and said he had

been making his own suicide kit. John claimed his own father had been quote, euthanized in South Africa using two vials of versed and one vial of potassium chloride. It's unclear whether this story is true, but he testified he decided to do the same. John claimed that after he and Michelle got into a bad fight one night, he injected himself with some versed and planned to follow it up with more along with the potassium chloride. Quote, the hopeful effect would be to put me to sleep and stop my heart. But he said the first injection knocked him out before he could complete his plan.

He testified that this happened on April 23rd of 1997. Coincidentally, this happened to be only two days before his stepdaughter alleged he'd sexually assaulted her. John confirmed Michelle's testimony that after she confronted him about Sarah's allegations, he told her that he was going to kill himself. The prosecution suggested that in no way was Dr John Schneeberger suicidal. Quote, the only way of controlling your wife and you needed her on side with this one was to threaten her that you would kill yourself. On November 25, 1999, Justice Ellen Gunn delivered her verdict. She found the evidence against Dr John Schneeberger overwhelming and deemed the victims Kathy and Sarah to be credible. The judge found Schneeberger guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Kathy in 1992,

and guilty of attempting to obstruct justice by providing false blood samples. She also found him guilty of sexually assaulting Sarah, a minor, twice between 94 and 95. But because Sarah wasn't able to definitively recall if those two assaults also involved using a sedative, the judge acquitted John on the charges of drugging her and endangering her life. Justice Gunn found Schneeberger's explanations to be unbelievable and described him as an inventive, fanciful and imaginative witness, but quote, an objective that does not apply is credible. He did not give his evidence in a forthright manner and showed obvious discomfort during parts of cross examination. She added that his actions clearly

demonstrated he would do whatever he considered necessary to avoid detection. When the disgraced former doctor John Schneeberger was led out of the courtroom, many people in the crowd applauded and yelled, bye John. Cathy was one of them. Still under publication ban, she told reporters that quote, this is a glorious day that I've waited for for seven years. I hope he rots because that's exactly what he deserves for all the hurt he caused. He caused a lot of problems for a lot of families and for my community. At his sentencing hearing, Schneeberger's defense lawyer asked the judge to consider his harsh upbringing in Zambia and South Africa,

and his contributions to the town of Kipling in Saskatchewan. Quote, His career is at an end. The home he had, the family he had, the career he had, are all gone. The judge was presented with more than six letters of support written by Kipling residents after he was found guilty, detailing how compassionate he was as a doctor and a parent, and how he was a pillar of the community. The Crown Prosecution pointed out that it was his standing in the community combined with his deception that allowed him to get away with his crimes for so long and effectively turned Kathy and her family into social outcasts in the

town. Some residents of Kipling refused to believe the guilty verdict point-blank and others still clutched their pearls and described Kathy and her supporters as crass and barbaric, not representative of the people of Kipling. A local Reverend, Vic Greenlaw, told the Star Phoenix that one woman in his congregation couldn't get her mother to go to any other doctor because she trusted Dr. Schneeberger completely. The Reverend felt sorry that Kipling had lost, quote, a superb doctor and an outstanding energetic member of the community. There was no mention of the fact that said doctor

had just been found guilty of sexually assaulting two of those community members, one of whom was his own underage stepdaughter. The Crown Prosecution also pointed out that Cathy deserved a substantial amount of credit for her courage, perseverance, and determination to see that justice was done. After all, she and her family had spent

more than $140,000 on lawyers, private investigators, labs for DNA testing and more. Dr John Schneeberger was sentenced to six years in prison, four and a half years for drugging and sexually assaulting Cathy, one year for sexually assaulting Sarah and six months for obstruction of justice. Justice Gunn told him, quote, "'You are a young man with exceptional training and talent, "'who through his own actions has unilaterally changed "'the course of his own life at the expense of two young women. "'It is in all respects a tragedy,' end quote."

Kathy and her family were disappointed in his six year sentence and believed it should have been closer to the 10 years that the prosecution had asked for. Kathy noted that the prison sentence John received was shorter than the seven years she'd waited for justice, but said no sentence would be long enough to erase the hurt that Schneeberger had caused.

Kathy's lawyer would say that she had been severely damaged by the entire incident. Quote, it didn't end with the assault, it continued when the system failed her, when he attacked another person and when the community largely dismissed her. when he attacked another person and when the community largely dismissed her. It was vindication for Cathy and the end of a long process to find justice. But it wasn't over yet for Michelle because she had been fighting another battle from behind the scenes. After John's arrest, Michelle had suddenly found herself a single mother to four children, Sarah and her other teenage child from her first marriage and the two young daughters she shared with John Schneeberger. Finding a job so she could provide for them ended up being the least of her

worries. While out on bail awaiting trial, John had petitioned the court to allow visitation with his young daughters. Because he was an accused person with the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, Michelle had no choice but to accept it. She would later tell a parliamentary committee that her youngest daughter was only 13 months old at the time and still breastfeeding,

and described the baby screaming when John arrived and ripped her out of her mother's arms. Michelle tried to fight the visitation order in court, arguing that she saw no benefit to her young children seeing their father like that. She would say she felt strongly that the courts were unsympathetic towards her and more focused on John's right, the accused's right, to see his children. Quote, each time I opened my front door I had to face the perpetrator who had drugged and raped my child. The year before the trial started, Michelle had divorced John and went back to her maiden

name, but the visits continued at John's insistence and backed up by the courts. Michelle would also tell the parliamentary committee that shortly before the trial began, John physically attacked her during a visit while their daughters were watching. They were only four and five years old at the time. She didn't provide much information about the incident itself, except to describe how terrified they were when they saw her bloody face and black eyes. It doesn't appear that Michelle reported this attack to the police. For unknown reasons, she decided to handle the situation herself by defying the visitation order.

The night before the guilty verdict was delivered, she refused to let her daughter sleep over with their father. So John reported her to the court for being in violation of the visitation order. Michelle was stunned to learn she had been fined $2,000. After the guilty verdict, she figured things would change since John was now in prison but to her surprise he applied for visitation rights and even though he'd been convicted of sexually assaulting two young women one of whom was his

underage stepdaughter the judge ruled that he was entitled to see the young daughters he shared with Michelle. She was ordered to bring them to the prison once a month to visit their father. Michelle was absolutely outraged. She refused to do it and tried every legal channel she could to fight the case. But the courts continued to back John's right to visit with his children. Michelle would later tell the parliamentary committee, in their best interests. I know how he also portrayed himself to my older daughter as a loving, caring father and a wonderful person attending the soccer events and the sporting events. We just didn't know about the double life he was leading

at the same time." End quote. Michelle tried to appeal to various politicians and was repeatedly told there wasn't anything they could do, but she refused to bring her young children to the prison. Desperate she requested alternative arrangements, asking if there was a possibility for visits to be arranged at another location, like a nearby hotel. That too was a no-go.

John had a right to visit with his daughters, but he was also considered too dangerous to be let out of prison. Michelle would say she couldn't stop crying and asking how could this happen? She had been assured that, quote, "'No court in this country would ever force me to take my children to a man

who had sexually assaulted their sister. I could not have been more wrong. Michelle had since moved to Alberta and tried her luck with a judge there, but that judge also sided with John, finding no evidence that visiting with him would harm their daughters. The judge ordered Michelle with John, finding no evidence that visiting with him would harm their daughters.

The judge ordered Michelle to take her daughters to the prison that Sunday. It seemed that she'd come to the end of the line. The courts were forcing her hand. She would later tell the parliamentary committee that, quote, I sometimes feel that I'm fighting alone against some monstrous justice system that lacks fairness and reason.

All I want is to protect my girls from a sexual predator. I only ask you to put the children's rights ahead of those of the perpetrator, end quote. The unbelievable visitation rights battle had hit the headlines around the country and resulted in an uprising of support for Michelle. Several activist groups took up her cause, including one named Mad Mothers Against Pedophiles. CBC News reported that on the day that Michelle was scheduled to bring her daughters for their first prison visit with their father,

about 100 people showed up to the prison to protest, outraged that a convicted sex offender's rights were being put ahead of his children's best interests. Michelle described it as one of the most difficult days of her life. She took the girls into the prison and waited in a gathering area for a visit with their father, who they hadn't seen for at least 18 months by this point. She said that when her daughters saw John approach, they quote, literally frozen their tracks and grabbed my leg. They both buried their faces in my thigh and dug deep into my skin with their clenched Michelle said their visit was called off at that moment by the accompanying social worker,

who was visibly distressed by what she witnessed. It was quite a public spectacle, and some people blamed John Schneeberger for not being able to attend the visit. The visit quite a public spectacle and some people blamed John Schneeberger for demanding the visit in the first place. Others suggested that Michelle set up the distressing scene to pressure the courts. As one reporter put it for the Edmonton Journal, quote, either way it was a farce that surely wasn't

in the children's best interest. Michelle insisted her ex-husband was a dangerous psychopath who endlessly manipulated his family, his friends, and the legal system. She pointed out that the fact he was willing to surgically implant a tube with another man's blood into his arm to beat three DNA tests was proof he'll stop at nothing

to get his own way. She was also extremely angry that after each loss in court, as she advocated for her daughter's best interests, she was forced to pay for John's legal bills. She commented that paying the legal bill of a man who sexually assaulted her daughter from a previous marriage was too much for her to stomach. Quote, I thought when he was convicted this would all be over. If he really cared about his children, he'd stop trying to get them to come to prison for visits.

Michelle accused her ex-husband of trying to get back at her for leaving him and helping him get convicted. She would later say that since that day at the prison, John had recruited his supporters on the outside to harass her at home and at work. At the time, John Schneeberger argued he was a loving father who made terrible mistakes, but can still contribute to the lives of his young daughters. He insisted he had never done anything to his children that would justify erasing him from their lives,

although he also claimed he never did anything to his stepdaughter, Sarah, as well. He accused his ex-wife Michelle of trying to sully his name through the media as revenge for not winning in the courts. But it appears the protests and publicity had an impact. Schneeberger's lawyer announced that he had decided to drop his fight and would not see the children while he was incarcerated. The scheduled visits were halted. It was the latest in a line of losing streaks for John Schneeberger.

He'd also been unsuccessful in trying to appeal his guilty verdict and then tried to take it to the Supreme Court, again unsuccessfully. His suspended medical licence had since been revoked altogether by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan. Michelle told CBC that when she told her daughters they didn't have to go back to prison, there was cheering, but her relief did not last long. Just months later, John Schneeberger resumed his legal action to have visitation with his daughters. that the reason he backed down was more about the public outrage and the way he was perceived in the court of public opinion than his own daughter's best interests.

By this time, he was close to being eligible for his first parole hearing and specified that regardless of the outcome, he wanted his daughters to visit him. So if that was still in prison, that's what it would be. In an interview with Margaret Wente for the Globe and Mail, Michelle reflected on the many things she had to be grateful for, most notably that her daughter Sarah had grown into a strong young woman, despite what John Schneeberger had done to her. As for the two youngest children she shared with him, she said, quote, At least I can say to my girls when they're older, I tried. They will know that mummy at least tried to keep us away from him.

At his parole hearing in April of 2003, John Schneeberger admitted to crimes and deceits and pointed to the scar on his bicep as a badge of dishonour. He apologised for his denial and said he'd made great progress in prison, describing himself as a changed man who posed no risk to society. The parole board didn't agree, finding his presentation to be shallow and self-serving and that he tended to focus on his own victimhood. He didn't express any remorse for his sexual crimes against Kathy or Sarah. And there was more. The board pointed out that Schneeberger had been found guilty of assaulting his own stepdaughter

when she was between 13 and 15 years of age. And quote, this pedophilic aspect of your sexual offences has not been dealt with as a risk factor or in your programming. There are serious questions about the degree you could be managed in the community. Schneeberger reportedly showed little emotion when his bid for day parole was rejected.

His ex-wife Michelle was particularly relieved though that the board saw through his act and recognized his unwillingness to address his risk factors in relation to being a convicted child sex offender. Quote, he tries to withhold bringing attention to himself on that aspect of his crimes. He'd rather people believe he's the doctor who made an error in judgment once, one time. But there are two victims here and I am not going to let my daughter be the forgotten victim. John Schneeberger might have lost that battle, but there was no avoiding the fact that he

was close to meeting the statutory requirement of serving two-thirds of his prison term. It was only a matter of time before he would be released back into the community and it seemed likely that the court would also grant him visitation with his daughters. There was one last avenue that Michelle and her supporters were now pinning their hopes on. The authorities had started looking at John Schneeberger's Canadian citizenship. According to the Globe and Mail, it all started when the citizenship judge who swore was shocked to realize the news story was about the same Dr. John Schneeberger from South Africa that she had approved to become a Canadian citizen

almost eight years earlier. She recalled that during the appointment, he made a very good first impression on her. They struck up a conversation before she moved to the paperwork part of the process, which involved asking John a number of eligibility questions. Citizenship is considered a privilege

that comes with numerous benefits, like voting rights, a Canadian passport, and access to social services. Having a clean criminal record is important for a successful application. Public safety is a key factor that immigration officials consider. And there are some exceptions where applicants

with a criminal record might be able to qualify, but it's rare. The judge recalled that she specifically asked John whether he had a criminal record either in Canada or abroad, or if he'd ever been under any kind of criminal investigation, current or past. John had paused before answering and asked the judge what would happen if a person lied, and she told him that they could be stripped of their citizenship and deported from Canada. He then replied no to all those questions.

The former citizenship judge looked at the timeline and realised the date that she swore John in was three months after Cathy reported being drugged and sexually assaulted by him at the hospital, and just weeks after the results had come back from his first voluntary blood sample. John Schneeberger had clearly been under RCMP investigation for several months at that time. When she realised the disgraced doctor had lied to her, she blew the whistle. Immigration Canada filed a statement of claim that Schneeberger had unlawfully obtained Canadian citizenship by knowingly concealing material facts from both the citizenship judge and the RCMP.

John Schneeberger's Canadian citizenship was revoked and his immigration status was reverted back to permanent resident. Unlike citizens, permanent residents can be deported if convicted of a serious offence. And John Schneeberger certainly had been, and John Schneeberger certainly had been. So that would be the next step in the process. Just a few months later in November of 2003, John Schneeberger was released from prison, having met the statutory requirement of serving two thirds of his prison term

or four years of his six year sentence. The final two years would be statutory release supervised by parole officers. He was ordered to attend a sex offender treatment program and was not permitted to speak with Michelle unless it was through a third party to arrange contact with their daughters. John announced he intended to hone the skills he'd learned in prison kitchens and potentially start a new career as a baker.

And he wouldn't be returning to Kipling. He was going to start fresh in Regina, Saskatchewan, which was of course the city Kathy had moved to after she was effectively driven out of Kipling. Cathy had moved to after she was effectively driven out of Kipling. When she heard this, she told the Vancouver Sun, I guess I can't escape him. She added that every time she sees his face in the paper or on the news, she gets angry. Quote, it just reminds me of the fact that so many people never believed me. Cathy added that she still felt unwelcome in Kipling, the town she grew up in, because many residents still supported the so-called good doctor, still believing that she had somehow framed him. She hoped that she wouldn't run into him at the grocery store.

But there were several silver linings. As the Calgary Herald put it, John Schneeberger was released from prison just in time to watch a TV movie detailing his bizarre antics. Kathy had a reputation for being an impulsive, unwed, single mother who loved to party and didn't care much for social rules, the opposite of Demure. But on the flip side, those who knew her best thought of her as less of a hothead and more

of a firecracker, whip-smart, dynamic, honest and spirited. Cathy had cleverly pitched her story to a few movie producers and one had signed on to make a TV movie about it. The movie, called I Accused, aired on TV the month after John Schneeberger was released from prison, starring Estella Warren as the character based on Cathy and Scottish actor John Hannah as the Doctor. In promoting the movie, producer John Ketchum said quote, If this movie wasn't based on a true story, no one would believe this actually happened. You can't make this stuff up.

It's the Doctor. He's the one who spun the bizarre story. He added that the goal of the movie was to show other survivors that it's okay to question authority and hopefully inspire them to come forward and face their accusers. Kathy added that she didn't make the movie for money. She did it for validation. Quote, he's done his time. I wish I could do mine.

At around the same time, it was reported that John Schneeberger was involved with a potential film project of his own. While in prison, he had befriended a restorative justice advocate named Larry Moore, who was volunteering with inmates through the prison's chaplaincy. Moore said that as part of his relatively new film production company, Heart Speak Productions,

he had filmed an 80-minute tape of John Schneeberger telling his story the night before he was released from prison. The filmmaker said the footage shows John in an emotional state as he details his descent into crime and describes his mindset at the time. He reportedly spoke about his decision to perform surgery on himself and passed someone else's blood off as his own to get away with his crimes. According to Moore, John expressed remorse for the survivors of his crimes and claimed he had received many beatings in jail because sex offenders are on the bottom of the pile. He said he had been spending up to 23 hours a day in segregation. Filmmaker Larry Moore described the footage as a portrait of what it's like to be John

Schneeberger. Quote, for him to be painted as a monster has been a difficult journey for him. Moore said he hadn't decided what to do with the footage, but he was considering creating a video or documentary for healing purposes and to illustrate that anyone, no matter their standing in the community, can fall into a crime cycle. Quote, we want to educate people, anyone can flip to the dark side, it doesn't matter if you're a doctor or who you are.

He said he and Schneeberger had reached an agreement that any proceeds from the sale of whatever the project turned out to be would be donated directly to Schneeberger's victims. Larry Moore may have been well intentioned, but the news about his potential filmmaking project attracted some backlash from sexual assault advocates who said if the footage was released it would further victimize the survivors of his crimes. Cathy herself questioned why the man found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting her would do something like that instead of just apologizing for what he did. Quote, this isn't about his victims or understanding it's about him trying to make himself look better for what he did. It won't work.

Cathy described the potential film as a stupid and bizarre idea that she couldn't see anyone paying for. Evidently the backlash was effective and there's no indication that footage ever saw the light of day. But it appears that Larry Moore struck up such a friendship with John Schneeberger that the disgraced doctor asked him to be his spokesperson, because soon there would be more to speak out about. Citizenship and immigration had scheduled a hearing to decide whether he should be deported. John Schneeberger's deportation hearing was held about six months later in July of 2004. He'd reportedly been working as a labourer in Regina during that time. He insisted that he did not lie to the citizenship judge and claimed that the only question he'd been asked was if he'd been charged with any crimes at the time.

He said he rightfully answered no. This wasn't consistent with what the judge recalled about their conversation, but citizenship and immigration found his argument to be a moot point. It didn't really matter what specific questions he'd been asked about criminality, because the only reason he hadn't been charged with sexually assaulting Cathy at the time he was sworn in as a Canadian citizen was because he had committed another crime to get away with it. If he hadn't gone to such lengths to provide a fake blood sample, his first blood test would have been a DNA match to Cathy's rape kit. So by the time of his appointment with the citizenship judge, he would have been charged with a crime. It only took 10 minutes for the court to order his deportation from Canada.

He returned to South Africa in the company of two RCMP officers. His ex-wife Michelle told Barb Paholic for the Saskatchewan News Network that she was elated to hear the news, describing it as a huge relief to know that he was gone. Kathy, of course, felt the same. But many in South Africa were not pleased to see him back.

When the news of his crimes and criminal conviction made the headlines there, South African residents and the local media started referring to him as Dr. Rape. John Schneeberger had of course been born in Zambia, and although he had practiced medicine in South Africa before he moved to Canada, he wasn't a citizen of that country. So the announcement that he had been deported back there attracted outrage from local South African residents. Local news outlet Independent Online published a number of articles about the developing situation,

quoting local activists who criticized the lenient prison sentence Schneeberger had received in Canada and asked for proof that he had been rehabilitated. They also questioned why he would be allowed back to South Africa and pointed out potential risks to public safety if he tried to resume being a doctor there. Schneeberger hadn't given any indication that he intended to do so, and by that point it had been 13 years since his South African medical license had expired, so he would have A spokesperson for the Health Professions Council of South Africa confirmed that he did recently apply for a new license and they had been considering his application until he suddenly withdrew it. It appeared that Schneeberger had already applied for a new license and they had been considering his application until he suddenly withdrew it.

It appears that once again he backed down in response to public outrage. The following month, November of 2004, Schneeberger gave an in-person interview to Independent Online. Local reporter Liz Clark started her article, quote, It is clear I am intruding on a man's pain. I am not sure that he sees any real point in my being there, and I'm not sure I do either. The reporter described Schneeberger as slimmer and shorter than she imagined, quote, clearly a highly intelligent man who spoke with a quiet intensity. He had declined to submit a

recent photo of himself for the article, saying he didn't want people to know what he looked like because he was afraid people would identify him and beat him up. According to Schneeberger, there was nothing that he could say or do that would change the way his victims felt about him, and he had concluded this would likely be the last time he would speak publicly again. He told the reporter that, quote, I equate my crimes to a terrible smash where I am the cause of the devastation. And while he said he could return to the nauseating scene of the accident over and over again, he questioned what good it would do. Instead, he suggested it would be more prudent to look at the bigger picture of restorative justice, a process that involves healing the harm caused by crime that involves the offender, the victim and the community.

But he said that wasn't possible because the victims asked that he not contact them. Quote, I would like to be forgiven, but I accept that may never come about. The article detailed that John was now working long hours in a catering business in Durban, South Africa, where his mother lived. And while he'd been offered vast amounts of money to tell his own story, he turned them all down, reportedly for the sake of his victims. He said quote, If it helped the people I have hurt, I might have considered it, but it won't. Protecting their dignity is more important than any money I could earn talking about my life. When asked how he or the general public can be certain he will never commit the same crimes again,

he stated that he'd implemented many checks and balances in his life. Quote, the short answer is that I would rather die than go back to that darkness. Back in Canada, John Schneeberger's ex-wife Michelle did not have to worry about custody or visitation anymore, but she was greatly affected by everything that had happened. For a while, she continued to lobby the government and parliamentary committees to introduce a bill to amend Canada's Divorce Act that would limit the rights of convicted sex offenders to have visitation with their children. Evidently, it was just one of a large bucket of problems that needed to be addressed in the Act. It wasn't until 2021 that the Divorce Act saw its first major update in more than two decades.

Act saw its first major update in more than two decades. Of particular note was changes to the way courts handle family violence during divorce proceedings. The definition of family violence was updated to include non-physical forms of violence like psychological, sexual and financial abuse, as well as harassment and stalking. This definition reflects the reality that family violence often escalates during separation, which at the very least can have lasting effects on children. The updated Divorce Act also holds that courts are no longer tasked with promoting equal time with each parent, but instead ensuring parenting time aligns with the best interests of the child, which is exactly what Michelle had been fighting for.

In addition, new terminology was introduced to reduce both the power and balance present in abusive relationships and the sense of winners and losers in divorce outcomes. Commonplace terms like custody and access have been replaced by decision-making and parenting time, reflecting the great responsibility that is parenting, rather than treating children as a prize that sparring parents could fight to win. The bizarre case of Dr John Schneeberger's crimes and how he tried to get away with them has been the subject of many documentaries both in Canada and abroad. Law and Order SVU based one of their earlier episodes on the case.

One of the most notable documentaries was an episode called Bad Blood from season six of Forensic Files, the longest running true crime series in TV history. Executive producer Paul Dowling of MedStar Television, who reportedly wrote all 400 episodes of the cult series, has repeatedly named Bad Blood as his favourite episode of them all. And it's not just because it's such a bizarre and unbelievable story,

it's also because of the firecracker personality of the survivor we've called Cathy. He added that if a forensic hall of fame existed, Cathy would belong in it. Here's her snarky comment about the criminal justice system. They had to follow the rules of the Canadian justice system. I call it the Canadian criminal system, because that's basically what it is. It's the criminals that have all the rights.

Here, she talks about the private investigator getting the chapstick from Schneeberger's car, the smoking gun. Oh, that was wonderful. That was what I had wanted all along. I mean, I had even offered to go chop an arm off. I would have socked him one in the nose to get that blood, no problem. to go chop an arm off. I would have socked him one in the nose to get that blood, no problem.

Cathy recalls being in the witness box as the defence accused her of trying to frame Schneeberger for sexual assault by entering his home, stealing his used condom and planting his semen inside her. I was a bulldog on the stand. I kicked his lawyer's ass. And he's supposed to be the best lawyer in southern Saskatchewan, best defence lawyer.

Wow. I showed him who his boss. Here's the Crown prosecutor, Dean Sinclair, talking about Cathy's personal strength and determination. You run across strong-willed individuals. Sometimes the strong-willed individuals, sometimes the strong-willed individuals are right and sometimes they're wrong. And this particular strong-willed person was right, and she was right all along. And she was determined to see that what happened to her didn't happen to anyone else. Thanks for listening. That episode of Forensic Files titled Bad Blood is available to watch

on YouTube on the Film Rise True Crime Channel, the show's current distributor. Although we chose to use pseudonyms for many of the people involved in this story, there have been real names put on the public record at various times. But because that was more than 20 years ago, we wanted to write this series in the show notes and on the page for this episode at Canadian true crime dot ca. As always, we'll be posting news clippings and photos mentioned in this episode on the Canadian true crime Facebook and Instagram pages. The podcast donates monthly to those facing injustice. This month we have donated to Women's Shelters Canada, an organization that supports over 600 shelters across the country for women and children fleeing violence. You can find a shelter near you by going to sheltersafe.ca.

Audio editing was by Eric Crosby, who also voiced the disclaimer. Research was by Hayley Gray. Our senior producer is Lindsay Eldridge and Carol Weinberg is our script consultant. Narration, additional research, writing and sound design was by me and the theme songs were composed by We Talk of Dreams. I'll be back soon with another Canadian true crime story. See you then.