A Hamilton man who was found not criminally responsible after stabbing his cousin to death at a family barbecue must stay at St. Joseph’s psychiatric hospital indefinitely.

The Ontario Review Board released its decision last week, ordering Laureano Bistoyong, 25, to remain in custody at the West 5th Campus’s Forensic Psychiatry Program.

The reasons for the board’s decisions are expected to be made public in the coming weeks.

Bistoyong killed his 16-year-old cousin Mark Bistoyong in 2023. Mark was sitting and eating at a barbecue on Canada Day, surrounded by family, when Bistoyong stabbed him in the chest with a chef’s knife.

The stabbing happened after a rough game of basketball near the Hamilton Mountain home, Bistoyong’s trial heard in 2024.

Superior Court Justice Andrew Goodman found Bistoyong guilty of second-degree murder. He then underwent a mental health assessment, with his defence arguing he was not criminal responsible.

Thought cousin was a demon

Last year, the court heard from forensic psychiatrists who testified about his mental health. One of them, Dr. Gary Andrew Chaimowitz, assessed Bistoyong over 60 days at St. Joseph’s and diagnosed him with schizophrenia.

Chaimowitz said Bistoyong couldn’t tell right from wrong and, when he killed Mark, he thought his cousin was a demon.

Bistoyong’s symptoms likely developed slowly and “insidiously,” unknown to his family and friends as he withdrew socially, said Chaimowitz.

A second psychiatrist mostly echoed Chaimowitz’s assessment, and Goodman ruled, last November, that Bistoyong was not criminally responsible.

After the verdict, Mark’s mother Merl Bistoyong said she was “disappointed” and “disgusted.”

“This is not justice,” she said. “It’s crime. My son is being victimized all over again, this time by the legal justice system.”

Verdict is not an acquittal

When considering Bistoyong’s case, the Ontario Review Board had three options: absolute discharge, conditional discharge or detention, according to Justice Canada. It decided on detention, which will be reviewed every year.

“While an accused found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder by a court is not convicted in the usual sense, the verdict does not constitute an acquittal,” says the justice website.

The verdict recognizes that the public still requires protection “from future dangerous behaviour,” says the website. The review board is required to come up with a decision that reflects that while also providing the person treatment for their underlying mental disorder.

In Bistoyong’s case, the board ordered on Feb. 18 that St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton create a program that may allow him to leave the hospital grounds only for necessary medical, dental, legal or compassionate reasons, and escorted by staff.

He can enter the community with a non-staff person or on his own, indirectly supervised, if it’s approved by the board through a review, said the decision. The hospital must also notify police if and when he does leave for any reason.