Epilogue for a Canadian Rapist and His Victim
(“Bad Blood,” Forensic Files)
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When Dr. John Schneeberger drugged and raped a patient in his exam room, he probably figured that she a) wouldn’t know what happened or b) wouldn’t be believed even if she did.
Schneeberger was a family physician beloved by residents of Kipling, a farming town of 1,100 people in Saskatchewan. Many of them had been treated by the 30ish blond doctor at one time or another and found him kind and caring.
King of the North. The Forensic Files episode “Bad Blood” told the story of his 23-year-old victim, usually identified only as Candy or Candice in the media.
She was a single mother with a high school diploma, a job at a gas station, and a reputation as a partyer.
On the local totem pole, Candy was basically the part buried in the ground.
Who was she to disparage an asset to the community like Dr. Schneeberger? The charming medical professional helped raise funds so the town could install a public swimming pool. He was happily married with four kids — two of them step-children he took in from his wife’s previous marriage.
What a great guy. In fact, he was so agreeable that he willingly took multiple DNA tests after Candy reported the Halloween-night sexual assault to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1992.
Defamation of character. Just as Schneeberger’s admiring public expected, his DNA didn’t match the semen from the alleged rape.
The test results seemed to confirm townspeople’s suspicions that Candy was lying, that she had a crush on Schneeberger and was retaliating because he rejected her, according to Autopsy, an HBO docuseries that produced a segment about the case.
Some residents suspected Candy was hoping to profit from a nuisance suit, according to Forensic Files.
‘Nothing to see here.’ The doctor maintained that he gave Candy the injection of Versed to calm her nerves and that the drug sometimes caused hallucinations of sexual activity as a side effect.
The police halted the investigation in 1994.
What Mrs. Schneeberger and the rest of her husband’s fan club didn’t know was that the doctor had foiled the DNA tests by implanting in his arm a tube containing another man’s blood.
Self-funding. Meanwhile, Candy persisted. Although the Versed had incapacitated her and made her memory hazy that evening on Dr. Schneeberger’s exam table, she felt sure he had raped her.
It took seven years, but her efforts finally landed Schneeberger behind razor wire.
A private detective she hired got hold of Schneeberger’s ChapStick. Candy paid for a DNA test at a private lab and got a match.
Tables turn. But Schneeberger pulled his fake-blood routine once more during the hospital’s lab test and evaded justice again.
Then, in 1997, there was a colossal break in the case: Lisa Schneeberger switched sides.
She found out her husband had been drugging and sexually assaulting her 13-year-old daughter.
The court ordered more DNA tests, which this time included a sample of Schneeberger’s hair and blood drawn from his finger.
They matched the semen from Candy’s attack.
Nice try, Doc. Schneeberger went on trial in November 1999 in Saskatchewan for raping both Candy and his step-daughter.
He admitted to the blood switcheroo; it came from one of his patients. But, he said, it was a matter of self-defense. Candy had broken into his house, he contended, and stolen a used condom so she could frame him.
The jury didn’t buy it and convicted him of enough crimes to put him away forever.
But he got a sentence of only six years.
After the show. The Forensic Files episode, first aired in 2001, ends with Candy’s jubilation when she learned the doctor had been denied parole.
So, what happened to Dr. John Schneeberger after Forensic Files’ closing guitar chords?
Well, it’s a mixture of justice and injustice.
Paperwork problem. After four years in the minimum security annex of Ferndale Institution (now known as Mission Minimum Institution) in British Columbia, Schneeberger won parole.
The ex-convict — who was also sometimes known by his given first name, Steven — promptly moved to Regina, the same town where Candy lived. He’d been stripped of his medical license, so he got work on a demolition crew and also did carpentry.
Fortunately, Candy didn’t have to worry about bumping into Schneeberger at the supermarket for long.
Records showed that Schneeberger — who originally came from Zambia and later lived in South Africa — had neglected to disclose on his Canadian citizenship application in 1993 that he was being investigated for rape, according to the Calgary Herald.
They still love him? Canada moved to deport him to South Africa — but not before his victims had to witness the residual goodwill Schneeberger had built up in the Great White North.
His friends began a letter-writing campaign urging the immigration minister to reverse the deportation order so Schneeberger would have a chance to say goodbye to his biological daughters.
Schneeberger’s camp won.
His wife, who was identified as Lisa Dillman after her divorce, was ordered to allow the girls, ages 5 and 6, to see him.
Ex-wife’s dilemma. She had paid $2,000 for contempt of court for previously refusing to take them to see their father in jail, but she ultimately obeyed the visitation order, according to a Globe and Mail story. As writer Margaret Wente quoted the former Mrs. Schneeberger:
“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…. I still blame myself. Maybe if I had believed [Candy], none of this would have happened to my daughter.”
The story also reported that Schneeberger’s pals threw him a going-away party.
He had a garage sale to get rid of his things prior to deportation.
Unwelcome. If this is sounding more like a kid going away to college than a sex criminal being chased out of North America, don’t worry — he faced adversity when he finally landed back in Africa in July of 2004.
The man once affectionately known as “Dr. John” in Canada became “Dr. Rape” in South Africa.
He tried to join the Health Professions Council of South Africa so that he could work in some field of medicine again, but he soon withdrew his application.
His brother, William “Bill” Schneeberger, a cardiothoracic surgeon, tried to help him get back on his feet professionally.
He maintained the charges against his brother were false. “I don’t believe my brother is a saint,” Bill Schneeberger said in a statement to the Calgary Herald, “but I know he is not a fool and rape in a consulting room when you have asked two nurses to join you is ridiculous.”
Bill Schneeberger’s efforts on his brother’s behalf appear to have gone nowhere. Bill himself returned to the U.S. and works with the humanitarian organization Emergency NGO in Ohio, according to his LinkedIn profile.
My old room available? John Schneeberger went to live with his mother, Ina, in Durban, South Africa, and reportedly took up work in the catering industry; he had picked up some skills on kitchen duty in prison. He pretty much dropped off the radar screen after that.
As for Candy, she filed civil suits against the doctor and the Kipling hospital where he treated her. No word on how she fared with the legal actions, but she got to see herself played by supermodel Estella Warren in I Accuse, a movie version of her story made for Canadian TV.
Candy herself appeared on the Canadian news magazine show 72 Hours, which produced an episode about the case called “Good Doctor.”
As of this writing in 2018, she’s known as Candice Fonagy and works as a continuing care assistant for an addiction-services facility in Saskatchewan. Professionals with her job title are known as “the eyes and ears of the frail and vulnerable” — a good fit for someone who has survived a saga like Candy’s.
By the way, Forensic Files executive producer Paul Dowling has said he is a fan of hers and that “Bad Blood” is his favorite of all 400 episodes of the series he created.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. – RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Amazon Prime.
See the Autopsy episode “Dead Men Talking” (the segment about Candy comes on at 18:50 minutes).
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Thanks, RR: I don’t think I’ve seen this ep but recall seeing something about the story. Ingenious that S implanted a red-herring (almost literally), and monstrously audacious that he thought (hoped?) the blood-taker wouldn’t notice something odd or select a less obvious location for withdrawal – yet it worked, and worked again! Candy must’ve been beside herself – knowing he was guilty yet at a loss as to how his blood falsified that knowledge.
Apart from S’s ingenuity – and audacity – what must strike observers is the appallingly short sentence for rape by (i) a doctor sworn to do no harm and (ii) with the aid of drugs – surely aggravating factors (the drug, anyway)? His crime’s at least as bad as anyone convicted of rape-with-drugs. I’d like to know if he was convicted of the grave abuse of his daughter too, and why such a short sentence with TWO victims (one a minor)?
I suppose his wife gets some credit for reporting him – though, again, I wonder how he was allowed access to a child he drugged and abused. That, too, beggars belief… We would all surely support the wife in trying to prevent it… And his brother deserves the What-Planet-Are-You-On award for support over against the evidence for S’s appalling crimes. Quiet loyalty to a sibling’s one thing, but aiding attempted re-entry into anything approaching medicine or care of the vulnerable with this baggage? Naivety? Stupidity? Contempt for the public and the medical profession? All three?
Candy the underdog became Candy the victor against a vile establishment professional. Good on her.
The sentence really was ridiculously short. According to the HBO special, some people in the town loved the guy so much that they were willing to be his patients again, even after the rape conviction. Maybe the judge was so impressed with his good deeds that he gave him a break on the felony sex charges. Crazy.
Or maybe a wealthy, young, attractive professional male does not ever need to pay for his crimes. The victims must have suffered in disbelief when even after being convicted, he remained a Prince of Saskatchewan. Not known for competent phlebotomists either, no one noticed the needle entering a plastic vial instead of a vein. Even when one of them noticed that she had drawn “old blood.” Note to self: Never go to Saskarchewan. If I get raped or murdered, they will hold a parade for the criminal. Shame on the people and judicial system there.
A competent phlebotomist is a great thing. Unfortunately, a bad one drew blood from my arm when I was 15 and it gave me a fear of needles for life.
All about u ?
Nobody pays for their crimes in Canada. The system is very soft here.
It really was a strangely short sentence considering that he raped two people.
I’ll happily be the one who points out what abject nonsense your right-wing misrepresentation of reality is (and anyone else saying the same silly things).
Readers might want to check into Paul Bernardo, who just isn’t going to get parole. Colin Thatcher got parole after 22 years inside. Oh hey — which Saskatchewan party’s MLA and Public Safety Minister thought it was cool to invite him, a man on parole for life now, who had his wife murdered (after an earlier failed attempt), to the Throne Speech in the legislature? Yup, that would be the Saskatchewan Party, about as right-wing as they come. Whither law & order, eh?
Our courts have no more rid themselves of misogynist judges than have anyone else’s, but the benches are being scrubbed of them and the judiciary as a whole is being educated.
Nearly 1/4 of federal inmates are serving life sentences. Yeah, this country is just soft. Eyeroll.
The sentence and the treatment of this scum that went before and after it say less about the judicial system than about the society it exists in — a society that is run by men who basically hate women and either treat women this way or just let other men do it. This is blatantly obvious from all the facts of this particular story. How surprising is it that a court in that context might have the same attitudes?
A counter to your claim of ‘institutional misogyny’ is that other things being equal women often receive lesser punishment for the same crime, across jurisdictions (in UK, USA and Canada) — the reluctance of juries to impose the death penalty on women in US perhaps being the most obvious example. There is evidence — quelle surprise! — that the educated and/or relatively wealthy are advantaged (male or female). The claim that the judiciary is itself ‘right-wing’ or misogynistic would, I suggest, surprise many, who perceive the opposite: misandry as a function of feminised professions. Perhaps we are determined to see our prejudices reflected…
The instant case is 30 years old: much has changed. There may well have been prominent misogyny then but socio-cultural mores are quite different now. Some would aver that males seem cast as the cause of societal ills.
Certainly Canada and UK (my country) would be regarded as having similar, more liberal, judiciaries than US — but that may to some degree be a function of the very considerably greater violence in US (partly accounted for by access to guns):
intentional homicide/100,000 pop:
UK 1.1
Canada 2.0
US 6.5
It is understandable that US citizens, fearful of societal violence, expect a ‘conservative’ judiciary and hold relatively conservative views of crime and punishment (as I would there). We see this tension between liberal and conservative in the critique of liberal states which have allegedly experienced increased violence and anti-social behaviour with the rise of ‘progressives’ under the current gov’t. (I make no comment on whether this complex claim is true or not – only that it is plainly a source of prominent political friction currently).
As as aside, I know of the Bernardo case – and I suggest you slightly mischaracterise it, for his appalling deeds were accompanied by those of his co-conspirator and wife, Homolka, who was shown to have played an active part in the rapes and murders of the three minors (one of whom, her sister, she ‘supplied’ to Bernardo), yet she appallingly served only 12 years, though she was in my view and many others’ just as wicked if not worse. Their case really can’t be held up as justice at its best or severest.
Perhaps … you still don’t have a clue what you are talking about when it comes to the Canadian judiciary.
I happen to have worked in close contact with the judicial system here in more than one capacity, and I can tell you about cases of misogyny that have actually been pursued and the judges in question disciplined. I can tell you about the continuing training courses for judges offered/required by their professional associations and oversight bodies. I won’t bother, because you are quite obviously not interested in learning facts.
“Misandry” is as much a made-up word and concept as “transgender.” And no, you can’t produce evidence — evidence not being the plural of anecdotes — of women being treated more lightly by the criminal courts than men. What there is evidence of is women being prosecuted and imprisoned for taking action against the men who abused them and put them in fear for their lives, and of course of women as the constant, daily, hourly victims of violence of every kind at the hands of the people whom we are trained to trust and required, by widely enforced social norms, to be nice to.
Count on one hand the men in Canada killed in a year by their partners. Count in the dozens a year the women killed by the men who abused them.
(Oh, I know your tale. Surveys show that “women initiate violence more often than men.” That’s a good one. Apart from the fact that men are golly gosh surprisingly unlikely to admit their violence in a survey, we really do have to admit that a woman slapping a man — who has very likely called her any number of foul and filthy things to prompt such a reaction — isn’t quite the same as a man punching a woman in the face, breaking her arm, knocking her out, breaking her ribs … I don’t need to go on. And cf. those homicide figures. Hm hm hm. Women initiating all that violence … and women being the ones dying …)
Western Canada is a cesspool of right-wingery, in very large measure because of the influence of fundamentalist Christians and assorted other dregs allowed to cross our southern border in droves a century+ ago, bringing their very unCanadian notions and practices with them. The hatred of women is an integral part of that kind of ideology. But misogyny dwells everywhere, including in the judicial systems in other provinces.
I happened to be reading about this case just yesterday in connection with some work I was doing.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-court-judge-sexual-assault-victim-1.4370997
“Quebec’s justice minister says comments made by a Quebec court judge about a teenage victim assaulted by her taxi driver are unacceptable, after it came to light that the judge had commented on the girl’s weight and suggested she enjoyed getting attention from a handsome older man.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/former-quebec-judge-fails-appeal-bid-1.6139207
“A former Quebec court judge has failed in his attempt to overturn a reprimand he received over comments suggesting a 17-year-old victim of sexual assault might have been flattered by the interest shown in her.
The Supreme Court of Canada today refused to hear an appeal from Jean-Paul Braun, who retired from the bench in 2018.”
The offender in that case got 90 days (the assault amounted to aggressive sexual touching and was short-lived, perhaps only because the victim was able to get out of the vehicle speedily). The judge found the accused’s version of events to be completely non-credible.
https://www.canlii.org/fr/qc/qccq/doc/2017/2017qccq7257/2017qccq7257.html
And yet, for some reason, he found it necessary to comment negatively on the 17-yr-old victim’s appearance and speculate demeaningly about her feelings. Judicial misogyny comes in many forms.
BTW, Schneeberger being released after 2/3 of his sentence is the law in Canada, generally. It’s called “mandatory remission.” It means that the remainder of the sentence is served in the community under supervision, so there is still control of the offender, who can be reincarcerated for breaching conditions. This is regarded as wiser than just turning them out at the end of their sentence with no oversight. Obviously, sentences are crafted with this in mind.
I’m not following this thread anymore so don’t bother responding to this, but since I did get the notification, I do want to point out a single thing: all words are “made up” by man. Mankind invented languages and vocabularies, hence why they are always changing and evolving with the times. So do not dare insinuate that “misandry” and “transgender” are words that should not be taken seriously. Do your research on them and learn before making ignorant comments. As an aside however, I’m not saying “misandry” is applicable in this case because that doctor is a scumbag.
Tell ya what — and I really don’t care about your silly promise not to read what I wrote, because this is a good lesson for everyone.
How about YOU exercise a modicum of respect and not tell people who are infinitely more knowledgeable and experienced than yourself — or any stranger at all — to “do your research and learn.” You simply look ignorant, in all senses of the word.
Words made up by “man” indeed. In very deed.
What I said was that “misandry” and “transgender” are made-up *concepts* and words. So how about you read and respond to what is said, not what you wish had been said.
And, of course, I was not speaking to you.
Just a note. We don’t have “felony” charges in Canada. That is USAmerican thing. Offences in Canada are indictable (more serious) or punishable on summary conviction (less serious). Forgive us if many of us resent the cultural imperialism that the USAmerican media practice, and the Canadian media too often embrace, in this and other regards. (We also don’t have “attorneys” in our courts, our lawyers aren’t “counsellors” … just to stick with the legal motif and not to mention things like “first grade” and “college” when you mean university …)
Bad enough we have SVU completely misrepresenting our justice system by actual name. (No, you can’t just fool a local trial-level Canadian judge into allowing you to snatch someone back across the border by hoking up some minor extraditable charge when you really plan to execute him … we have a Supreme Court too, ya know, Dick Wolf, and we don’t hesitate to use it, and it’s a whole lot better than yours!)
You can safely blame most of the questions asked on white, educated, male privilege as well as psychopathy….smh
On the local totem pole, Candy was basically the part buried in the ground.
Same theme recently played out in Washington, D.C., hearings.
Good point — I wonder if that injustice will ever be corrected.
That turned out to be a big lie. When people cry wolf, real victims suffer. What a disgrace Ford turned out to be. She spit on real victims by trying to tear down an innocent man with her political motives.
Inventing facts is un-American. Why do you hate this country?
What are you talking about???? This post is about the crimes former doctor-rapist Scheenburger and the person who proved he did commit those crimes. Who’s Ford?????
No, the testimony of Christine Ford was not a “big lie.” It was wholly credible, as compared to the snakey crocodile tears shed by Brett Kavanaugh, the man who had assaulted her as she reported, and the demonstrated lies he told.
Ford should have reported when it happened. I did, when I was in law school and it happened to me. I don’t much respect women who do not report — *that* is what makes it harder for other women to do so. Schneeberger’s victims deserve all credit, and the thanks of all women who have been or are at risk of being victims, for reporting and standing firm, as do all the rest of us who hold men like him accountable.
This episode was crazy! The mad doctor surgically implanted a tube filled with someone else’s blood in his own arm! First, I can’t imagine the thought processes involved in problem solving how not to get caught, and coming up with THAT idea. I mean, who operates on themselves?
Then seeing how calm he is as he guides the lab person to use just that spot to get blood from him…I’ve heard sociopaths have no fear so maybe that’s how he did it.
Loved Candi, and so glad she stuck to her guns and he got caught.
I think this case redefined “fact is stranger than fiction.”
There’s another case of a dr, who murdered his son for insurance payout (I think) – the name will come to me – that this reminds me of. It may have featured on FF. The dr was a drunkard, gambler (constantly short of money) and abusive domestically – but his patients loved him and stuck by him despite the evidence of his despicableness. He does indeed appear to’ve been a good and kind dr, forgoing charge for poor patients, for instance. The evidence of his homicidal guilt was overwhelming and he killed himself in prison – but patients refused to believe his guilt, as though they couldn’t distinguish between the man as their dr and the man as a husband, father… and murderer. Such people can occupy worlds in which their persona is wholly different. Gangland hit-men are notoriously protective of their own family (and of hiding the ugliness of their ‘work’ from them) but will easily murder others for the $.
People can be pretty stupid…
Marcus, are you referring to John Cavaness? http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/illinois-doctor-killed-2-sons-collect-insurance-money-article-1.2490995
There’s no FF episode on this though.
This is true but it’s featured on HBO’s Autopsy series.
Candy correctly summarized the justice system — it’s really the criminal justice system. First everybody bends over backward to give the criminals the benefit of the doubt and then when they are sentenced the time behind bar is super short irrespective of the crime. John Schneeberger not only raped Candy, but repeatedly drugged and raped his step-daughter, a child barely 13 years old. While in prison his wife was forced to take the two girls she had with him to visit him at the prison. Had he not been deported after his parole, the Canadian judicial system would no doubt give him custody and/unsupervised visits with his two daughters. Just so he could do to them what he did to their half-sister, his step-daughter.
Lili: Thank you: yes, that’s him. I think the programme he featured on was as ‘deadly drs’ sort, not FF, as you say. It adds to the sense I’ve mentioned before on this site that drs are rather highly represented on FF: you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re a rum lot. But I imagine FF features them ‘disproportionately’ ‘cos we don’t expect drs to take life, and if we did, we’d expect them to be better at it than FF shows they were. They make the same often foolish mistakes many crims do (not that we can know what proportion are successful murderers…)
Thanks again for the memory-jog!
Beryl: Alas, what Candy experienced re justice may be yet another example of the educated professional offender with money who does better from ‘the system’ than those of lesser standing. I’ve noted this of other cases RR features here, and, from my UK perspective, it’s a disturbing aspect of US justice that outcomes seem too predicated on one’s resources and, perhaps, ethnicity. I wholly agree it’s astonishing he was allowed access to the child he grossly abused. What were the authorities — the judge, the social worker — thinking about this monster???
I hate that Candy.
Really annoying.
The worst “character” in all Forensic Files.
Worse than the murdering and/or raping ‘characters’ featured on each FF episode?
Well maybe a little less.
Candy’s a hero and you’re a loser
She is pretty darn annoying, but I can understand her frustration, and her eventual jubilation once her accusations were confirmed.
Guess you have a more specific way you like your rape victims that have to waste 8 yrs of their life fighting the entire town they live in, to present themselves. Gosh you are interesting – so glad you commented. Will you friend me on Facebook? You are exactly the character to be on the receiving end of my fist.
Wow!
I have only Just watched the film
I Accuse
And he should of been Jailed for life, what he did !!!!!
I agree — he victimized a patient and his own stepdaughter.
John Schneeberger was raised in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia ) and received his medical degree at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In 1987, he moved to Canada. He lived in the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan and practised in the Kipling Medical Centre.
I had a friend whose dog son-in-law went on trial for a variety of business-related crimes. My friend and his wife professed his innocence and even started a website on his behalf. His first trial ended in a mistrial. The 2nd he was found guilty and sentenced to prison. His in-laws still profess his innocence, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Based on my experience with this family, I realize that people find it easier and healthier on themselves to believe the stories of those closest to us and to give them the benefit of the doubt, to truly believe in their innocence despite all that logic tells you (or in this case, what logic shouts at you). To believe otherwise would, in my friend’s case, be too strenuous emotionally and psychologically.
By the way, my friend’s son-in-law is out of prison on parole. I haven’t heard from my friend since the trial, last I heard he and his wife had moved across the country.
Innocence/guilt isn’t, strictly speaking, a matter of logic but of evidence, circumstance (such as opportunity), putative motive, etc. That said, I think you’re surely correct that for a variety of reasons – generally psychological – some deny the reasonably undeniable. Some do this consciously, perhaps in order to influence the opinion of others for the same conclusion for the sake of reputation etc; others ‘choose’ to believe the more palatable version (innocence – or if formally guilty, in some unevidenced mitigational factor) because it’s cognitively easier.
An reasonable current example might be the case of former police office Daniel Holtzclaw:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Holtzclaw
Eight women alleged sexual abuse; he denied guilt but was convicted; his family proclaim his innocence.
Without assuming indubitable guilt, one would have to believe that there was very considerable conspiracy against him if he’s innocent – which is possible but hardly likely. What’s the basis of his family’s claim of innocence? It must be that they don’t believe he’s capable of the crime(s) alleged and therefore that many are lying. They could be. But how do they know he’s incapable? They don’t; they simply can’t accept that he could be ‘cos they think they know him ‘so well’. Yet how many family and friends of those who murder, some multipally, would have conceived that X could do what s/he unquestionably did?
We’re necessarily wedded to a concept of those we love which precludes their heinousness. We think we know their capabilities and limitations. In most cases we’re possibly reasonably acute, but there are plenty of exceptions. Ted Bundy’s mother insisted – at least publicly – in his innocence… until he confessed at the eleventh hour. Was she protecting herself, him, or both? Did she believe what she said? Probably, given the awfulness of the truth.
Bill Clinton denied the relationship with Lewinsky at first, and Hillary Clinton blamed the allegations on a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” Asked on “Good Morning America” if her husband had been truthful, she said, “I know he has.” In 2000, while running for the U.S. Senate seat in New York, Hillary Clinton was asked whether she misled the public by defending her husband. Did she believe him, at least initially, or was she lying for both their sakes? Innocence claims in public, and what the speaker actually thinks, or knows, may be quite different…
What else is family going to do but proclaim the innocence of someone of whom they’ve only seen one side their entire life?
Dr. Schneeberger is now practicing medicine again in South Africa. He is also remarried. His mother is deceased.
I doubt you’re correct. With his convictions – rape, administering a noxious substance, obstruction of justice – he couldn’t be registered (and if his conviction were known, no patient would touch him unless desperate). S African authorities would be mad enabling him to be a dr.
https://www.hpcsa.co.za/?contentId=0&menuSubId=5&actionName=Core%20Operations
I’m checking with the above in the very unlikely event your claim is correct, and alerting them in the also highly unlikely event that they’re unaware of his disgraceful past.
According to this he’s erased from the medical register and cannot practise:
HEALTH PROFESSIONS COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA The Business Centre, 2 Ncondo Place, Ridge Side, Umhlanga Ridge Postnet Suite 47, Private Bag X01, Umhlanga Rocks, Durban, 4320
If he IS practising, he’s doing so illegally.
Now that’s good news — thanks for the scoop!
I blame the woefully insufficient medical school selection process. All prospective medical students need to be very rigorously psycho analysed before being offered a place and quizzed on their true motivation to want to become a doctor. No one should be allowed to slip through the net by entering medical school on the basis of good academics alone.
Interesting point — it is a good idea to know just exactly who we’re allowing to wield a prescription pad and syringe.
This is incorrect. Dr John is now an expert in nutritional sciences and he’s damn good in what he does. I’m not defending him in any way but just saying successful men are vulnerable too. He paid a heavy price for that one moment of weakness that he could have avoided.
Moment of weakness is a funny of putting it. Did you not read the article? He drugged and raped his 13-year-old stepdaughter, his wife’s daughter from her first marriage, until the girl was 15. And that’s quite aside from the actual rape of Candy, someone who trusted him, a medical professional, to treat her. No, that man was not “vulnerable” and he deserves his fall from grace. He is a criminal, pure and simple.
Excuse me, “one” moment of weakness??? He raped his stepdaughter repeatedly!
1. What planet do you occupy? A ‘moment of weakness’ is a Snickers bar when on a crash diet, for goodness’ sake. Double rape – inc a child – via drugging is appalling, premeditated (no ‘moment’!), extremely serious crime which can entail decades’ imprisonment. By this measure the few years he served was extremely light: no ‘heavy price’.
2. This man is NOT a ‘Dr’: his medical license was, of course, withdrawn so unless he has a doctorate he’s styled incorrectly (though it would be unsurprising if he still uses the title).
3. It is of no interest to anyone that he’s a ‘good’ nutritionist. He’s scum and cannot be trusted around children.
Are you Schneeberger?
It would help to know where this “Dr John” of yours is to be found. There are quite a few John Schneebergers on the planet. If you’re not sure that yours is the one who committed the vicious crimes in question, you are defaming the one you know. Of course, if you know them to be one and the same, you’re being pretty vicious yourself in your portrayal of the victims as the cause of his woes. And rather unfair to “successful men,” and men in general, who aren’t actually “vulnerable” to committing vicious crimes against women and girls.
He returned to South Africa and got into a relationship with his cousin. You can see them here: https://www.pinterest.com/luba123/
I think he is back –
It looks as though that’s a different man with the same name. I checked out your link (thanks for sending) and he’s running in Montana in the United States. JS the rapist doesn’t meet the qualifications.
Thank you!! Glad it is not him!
Ditto!
What a scumbag this Schneeburger is. The name itself should be synonymous with “scumbag” like “Murphy” is to unfortunate events! “What a Schneeburger!” See? It works: SCUMBAGiness established!
Canada is certainly not Texas. One of my son’s former high school teachers was convicted of continuous sex abuse of a minor (his stepdaughter) and got life in prison without parole.
People like this Dr. should be hunted down & put down like the sick rabid animals that they are.
Oh how I wish Dexter was real….
You have a new fan!
Jesus Christ, people need to learn how to hold people accountable.
Schneeberger
Until you are involved with the criminal justice system in Canada, you believe that this is a sparkling-clean-fair-developed-country of very polite people. Nope! If it had been a brown, asian, or black laborer he would have had a proper sentence.
It is great to know he was stripped of his medical licence. Now …jail in Canada? It is a joke! In the city where I live there are murderers living in a minimum security facility right across from newer residential homes, this jail has tennis courts, greenhouses, and there is not even a fence. A few times the community has been advised of inmates escaping, they just have to walk out effortlessly.
I think it is good that he has to WORK to earn a living carrying lumber or chopping onions. I understand that for other criminal reasons he was deported, not because of the rapes. Now his brother is an incredibly stupid man. After all the evidence he tried to get John to work again in the medical field? I would advise anyone to stay away from Dr. Bill Schneeberger. He seems to justify rape so he might be inclined to follow his brother’s footsteps. A DECENT physician would have condemned John’s criminal acts and ensure he has no way to be in a position of power. All doctors are in a position of power.
I am terribly sorry for the 8 frustrating years that Candy had to endure. I am so sorry that the people in her community did not believe her. I hope that some people walked to her and apologized for their behaviour. It is horrible to tell the truth and not to be believed.
I had a trial with someone who assaulted me in front of a witness, there were photos of my bruises…but the judge found this drug-addict master-manipulator, who lied to her court-appointed-lawyer, not guilty. Since then I have talked to others in this country about our “criminal system” as Candy calls it. Yes, it protects criminals.
Canada is not a good country any more. Was it ever? Let’s remember what this government has done: the indigenous children and the Residential Schools, we are still finding bodies and last time I heard the records of the children were still not handed out! I would demand forensic analysts to determine the causes of death of each child. Why on Earth did they die? I think they were killed
More Canadian government decisions: sterilizing Eskimo women, Japanese and Chinese internment camps during WWII, Thalidomide …
And Kluff: moment of weakness? Didn’t you read that he raped his step daughter for years? In his application for Canadian Citizenship he did not disclose he was being investigated FOR RAPE! And Candy! I would have at least a baseball bat if I knew he was nearby. He cannot be trusted, he should never be trusted and wherever he is people should know his name, his face and what he did, to PREVENT him from striking again…what part of he is a REPEAT OFFENDER is not clear to you?
A doctor rapes a patient, and then he drugs and rapes a child…. and is only sentenced to 6 years (not to mentioning making parole in 4 years)?????!!!!! Something is VERY VERY wrong with the justice sysytem.
I don’t understand it either.
Candy’s mother passed away in May 2021.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/wolseley-sk/virginia-fonagy-10197567
The series “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” had a case that was ripped from this case in Season 5, entitled “Serendipity.” It was Diane Neal’s first episode after Stephanie March departed the series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_%26_Order:_Special_Victims_Unit_(season_5)#Episodes