Former SCTV and Saturday Night Live comedian Tony Rosato is now in a mental health facility in Kingston after a judge ordered him into treatment as part of his sentence for criminal harassment.

Justice Gordon Thomson of the Ontario Superior Court in Kingston, Ont., sentenced Rosato to three years' probation with conditions late Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier that day, he had found the 52-year-old Canadian actor guilty of criminally harassing his wife, Leah Rosato, but did not convict him, leaving him without a criminal record.

Thomson ruled that Rosato must be confined to a psychiatric facility for much of his sentence. Rosato has been diagnosed with Capgras syndrome, a disorder characterized by the belief that family members or close friends have been replaced by impostors.

Rosato calls ruling a miscarriage of justice

Rosato, who pleaded not guilty to the charge Tuesday and does not acknowledge his mental illness, protested loudly. He called the ruling a grave miscarriage of justice. He said he wasn't aware he would be forced into treatment and felt he had been brought to the courtroom on false pretences.

But his lawyer, Daniel Brodsky, suggested that Rosato could benefit from medical help.

"Tony Rosato belongs to a group of individuals who suffer from a disorder that is quite treatable," Brodsky said.

Meanwhile, Patricia Forsdyke, past president of the Kingston branch of the Ontario Schizophrenia Society, said she is relieved for Rosato's wife by the outcome of the case.

"I've always said right from the beginning that his right to refuse treatment is trumped by her right to have safety of person. You know, she is a victim," Forsdyke said outside the courtroom. "She was trapped and she needs protection."

Trial began after 2 years in jail

Rosato was arrested and charged in May 2005 after complaining to police that his wife and their daughter had gone missing and been replaced by other people who looked like them.

His trial began on Aug. 7, after he had already spent more than two years in jail.

During the proceedings, his wife testified that Rosato severed her ties with her friends, didn't want the family to see the couple's new baby, and accused her of misdeeds such as having sex with her father.

Rosato denied his wife's testimony and insisted she had been replaced by another person, possibly a twin sister.

He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, the same day the Crown lowered his charge from indictable to summary, reducing the penalty were he to be found guilty.

On Wednesday, Justice Thomson found Rosato guilty, saying he accepted all the testimony of his wife, who over time became helpless, sad and exhausted from her husband's harassment. He dismissed Rosato's testimony as bizarre.