N.B. murder trial hears man accused of killing two boys had alcohol in his system

A forensic specialist with the RCMP testified at a Saint John double-murder trial on Tuesday.

Jurors at a first-degree murder trial in Saint John, N.B., heard evidence Tuesday about the toxicology levels for a man accused of killing two boys last year.

Roman Kamyshnyy, 46, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the boys, aged 10 and 17, on Jan. 29, 2025. Kamyshnyy has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

It is alleged that Kamyshnyy stabbed the two boys to death before attempting to take his own life with a nail gun to his head.

Nathalie Desrosiers, a forensic specialist with the RCMP’s National Forensic Laboratory Services, testified that blood test results obtained from Kamyshnyy at 8:45 a.m. the day of the murders showed a blood alcohol content of 22 to 25 mg%.

Desrosiers said, using those results, his blood alcohol content at 7 a.m. was projected to be between 40 and 61 mg%, or the equivalent of two-to-three bottles of 5 per cent beer.

Desrosiers also testified that Diphenhydramine, the active ingredient found in allergy and sleep-aid medications, was also found in Kamyshnyy’s blood.

Desrosiers said that, unlike alcohol, it is difficult to determine the amount of Diphenhydramine in a body as there are many more variables in how it is absorbed and processed by the body.

Desrosiers said the interaction of alcohol and Diphenhydramine as two depressants has an effect on the body’s central nervous system, but it was inconclusive in what those exact effects might be.

Tuesday’s second witness testified about DNA found on Kamyshnyy’s clothing and two knives.

Aaran McBride, a forensic specialist with the RCMP’s National Forensic Laboratory Services, said there was DNA evidence from the two individuals found on Kamyshnyy’s clothing when he was detained.

A court-ordered publication ban prevents the names of the two boys, or any information that may identify their relationship to the accused, from being revealed. Previous court rulings have allowed the media to describe the case as one that involves alleged domestic violence.

Justice Darrell Stephenson is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last a total of three weeks, finishing by June 26.

Court is scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Avery MacRae

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