Basil Borutski not cooperating in court
Posted Dec 7, 2015 05:25:05 AM.
Last Updated Dec 8, 2015 06:40:23 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PEMBROKE, Ont. – A man charged in the separate slayings of three women in the Ottawa Valley is refusing to cooperate in court.
According to Postmedia, Basil Borutski, 57, still hasn’t found a lawyer to represent him, and refused to pick up the phone to speak to his duty counsel while appearing in Pembroke court via video Monday.
Borutski faces first-degree murder charges in the deaths of 36-year-old Anastasia Kuzyk, 48-year-old Nathalie Warmerdam, and 66-year-old Carol Culleton.
The bodies of the women were found within hours of each other on Sept. 22. He knew or had relationships with all three women. Borutski was arrested after a manhunt that kept the village of Wilno, Ont., under lockdown for several hours.
At his last court appearance, Borutski was granted more time to find a lawyer, but court may eventually have to appoint one for him. He is due back in court January 5, 2016.
Borutski has a criminal history that includes a conviction for assaulting Kuzyk in December 2013. He was released from jail last December and placed on two years’ probation.
In 2012, Borutski was accused of assaulting Warmerdam, and also accused of threatening to hurt one of her family members and to kill a family pet.
Court documents say he was convicted of making threats and breaking a door while he lived with Warmerdam but the Crown did not proceed with the assault charge.
