Inquest date set for 2015 murders of three women in Wilno, Ont.
Posted May 21, 2022 01:38:00 AM.
The province has set a date for an inquest into the deaths of three women killed at the hands of a man named Basil Borutski that happened in September 2015 in and around Renfrew County.
The inquest will look into the deaths of Carol Culleton, 66, Anastasia Kuzyk, 36, and Nathalie Warmerdam, 48.
All three were murdered on September 22, 2015.
The inquest is set to start at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, June 6, at the Best Western Pembroke Inn and Conference Centre.
The inquest is expected to last 15 days with about 30 witnesses sharing testimonies in an attempt to examine the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Members of the jury will get a chance to make recommendations aimed at preventing further deaths related to domestic violence. The inquest will be open virtually to members of the public as well.
An inquest was announced in August of 2019, but a date had not been set at the time.
Borutski was convicted for the killings of the three women in November, 2017.
He was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the shootings of Kuzyk and Warmerdam, and one count of second-degree murder in the strangling of Culleton.
When the trial was completed in December 2017, a coalition of women’s groups highlighted some of the disturbing questions that arose from the trial and are hopeful their questions will help form the mandate of the inquest.
Some of those questions include why he was released from custody after serving a jail term for assaulting Kuzyk, even though he refused to sign a non-contact order. Also, why was he never held to account for failing to participate in a court-ordered partner assault education program and why he never attended a single session.
They also hope the inquest will examine how he was able to obtain a shotgun and ammunition when he had a long history of threatening, harassing and assaulting women.
– With files from Bruce McIntyre
