Wilno murderer gets life in prison

December 14, 2017

By Sarah Sobanski

Basil Borutski will never walk among area residents again.

The man who slaughtered three of his ex-partners in the same day was sentenced to life behind bars on Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, Dec. 6.

“No verdict and no sentence can make up for the enormous loss that these women were to their families, their friends and their communities. It will take a long time to dispel the shock and outrage that such horrible crimes could happen in such a beautiful part of our province. Nonetheless, justice has been done,” Crown Attorney Jeffery Richardson wrote in an email to Bancroft This Week.

Justice Robert Maranger sentenced Borutski to consecutive life sentences, multiple sources report. As a result, he’ll be in prison without a chance of getting out for nearly seven decades. That means Borutski, now 60, will be 128 years old before he has a chance at parole.

Borutski was found guilty Nov. 24, of first-degree murder for shooting Wilno’s 36-year-old Anastasia Kuzyk and Foymount’s 48-year-old Nathalie Warmerdam, and of second-degree murder for strangling 66-year-old Carol Culleton of Combermere on Sept. 22, 2015.

“What happened on Sept. 22, 2015 is a terrible, indelible stain on the communities in northwest Hastings and southern Renfrew Counties. No verdict and no sentence can restore the lives of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk, or Nathalie Warmerdam,” said Richardson.

“The Crown is grateful for the hard work, professionalism and dedication of the members of the Ontario Provincial Police including members of the Bancroft Detachment and the Belleville Forensic Identification Unit who responded to and originally investigated the murder of Carol Culleton in Hastings Highlands Township. The Crown is grateful for the engagement and commitment on the part of the Mr. Justice Robert Maranger, the members of the jury and amicus curiae James Foord,” said Richardson.