A Hamilton courtroom heard from the crown’s final witness today in the trial against a 22-year-old man who is accused of stabbing his cousin last year.
Sixteen-year-old Mark Bistoyong was sitting in the dining room of his uncle’s home on the Hamilton Mountain when his cousin, Laureano Bistoyong, allegedly took a kitchen knife and plunged it into the teen’s chest.
Police said Bistoyong, the victim and several other family members were playing a game of basketball outside at a nearby park when the game became aggressive.
The group decided to stop playing and return to the address on Cadham Boulevard. It is not until they got back to the home that the stabbing occurred.
READ MORE: Hamilton court filled with loved ones on second day of Bistoyong murder trial
A forensic pathologist testified in court today the weapon went 16 centimetres deep in the boy’s chest, and said a wound of that nature would kill a person in mere seconds or minutes.
The victim’s youngest brother, Cain Bistoyong, took the stand on Tuesday and said that he was sitting with his brothers at the party when he saw his cousin grab a knife in the kitchen.
Cain said he didn’t think anything of it until Laureano walked over to Mark, bent over and stabbed him in the chest. Then Cain said that Laureano took off through the back door.
The 22-year-old is facing a second-degree murder charge, but the defence says the accused wanted to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The defence’s case begins tomorrow.
READ MORE: Man, 22, charged after fatally stabbing cousin at Hamilton Mountain family gathering