Basil Borutski, a 57-year-old from the Ottawa region of Ontario, accused of killing three women on Tuesday, recently got out of prison and had been accused of assault, but never convicted, a number of times before that.
Here’s what we know about Borutski.
Accused of a triple murder in Wilno, Ontario
At a courtroom in Pembroke, Ont. Wednesday Borutski was charged with the murders of three women, 36-year-old Anastasia Kuzyk, 48-year-old Natalie Warmardam, and 66-year-old Carol Culleton.
Police responded to Szczipior Road shortly before 9 a.m. on Tuesday where they found Kuzyk’s body. Information gleaned from the initial investigation led them to a home on Foymont Road where they found Warmardam.
According to court documents obtained by Global News Borutski allegedly assaulted Warmerdam in 2012 after threatening her pet and her relative. He’s also accused of assaulting Kuzyk in 2013.
Corinne Higgins, the owner of the Wilno Tavern, told the Canadian Press that Kuzyk was “a really lovely lady.”
She went on to say that Basil “wasn’t the most peaceful man.”
The suspect’s brother, Will Borutski, told The Canadian Press that two of the victims dated his brother.
“Right now, my heart just goes out to the families … all our brothers and sisters, our hearts go out to all the victims,” Will Borutski said. “We’re all just in disbelief. Right now the only ones we’re thinking about is the victims. The children, the families, the friends.”
WATCH ABOVE: OPP Sgt. Kristine Rae updates the Basil Borutski triple homicide case, outside a Pembroke ONT courthouse on Wednesday afternoon.
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Police found Culleton’s body at approximately 11 a.m. in a home on Kamaniskeg Lake Road in Bancroft.
Borutski was arrested at approximately 2:30 p.m.
He was accused of domestic abuse several times
Borutski was charged with assault against his then-ex-wife in 1994, but was not convicted. The pair had two children together.
In a 2011 divorce filing available online, his ex-wife alleged a “steady regimen of domestic violence.” Borutski denied the allegations at the time and pointed to the fact that he had never been convicted.
The document says Borutski “destroyed her spirit by relentless threats and abuse.”
It claimed that after the charges were laid, “he stalked her, constantly pestered her to recant, insisted that it did not happen, told her that no one would believe her in court having regard to the acquittal in Kitchener, that he would take the girls from her and she would never see them again. She says she believed he would succeed and capitulated.”
At the time, Borutski hadn’t been convicted of anything, but two witnesses corroborated the claims of Borutski’s ex-wife, according to the document, confirming that he was “violent, easily agitated, and tyrannical toward his family members.”
He had just got out of prison
According to multiple media reports, Borutski was convicted on several counts last September including assault, choking, auto theft, and mischief. There was also a firearms-related offence, according to the Ottawa Citizen, and he was sentenced to 575 days in jail, including 350 days for time served.
-With files from The Canadian Press
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