A Salt Spring Island man accused of killing his mother in 2017 has been found not criminally responsible for her death due to a mental disorder.
Martin Vandenberg appeared in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday by video from the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.
"While an accused found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder by a court is not convicted in the usual sense, the verdict does not constitute an acquittal," said BC Prosecution Service spokesperson Dan McLaughlin on Tuesday.
Vandenberg will now face a provincial review board for assessment and to craft a plan that protects the public and, hopefully, treats his underlying mental illness.
Vandenberg was charged with second-degree murder in the death of his mother, Heather Jones, whose body was found in a Salt Spring Island duplex on Dec. 6, 2017.
Vandenberg was arrested a short time later.
Jones was well-known on Salt Spring Island, and the murder shocked the island community.
