Accused triple murderer lashes out at police in confession

Near the end of his interview with police, after recountingdetails about the cold-blooded killings of three women, accused triple murderer Basil Borutskisuggested to his interrogator that authorities, including police, bore some of the responsibility for what had happened.

"I didn't get here by myself. Yousf--kersdrove me crazy," Borutskitold OPP Det. Sgt. CaleyO'Neill on Sept. 23, 2015.

The interview was conducted the day after the bodies of Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdamwere found at three separate crime scenes in and around Wilno, Ont.

Borutskiknew all three victims and had beenconvicted of offences against Warmerdam and Kuzyk in 2012 and 2014, respectively.

Histrial before a judge and jury began last week in Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa. He is representing himself but has not participated so far, and the court has entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

"I beg yous to do something," BorutskitoldO'Neillin the hours-long interview, the end of which was played in court Tuesday."I went to the Pembroke police and I f--king told them about the wife beating me up, I told them the whole thing about her slapping me ... I told them about my lawyer, that asshole cop covered that all up, I don't know how."

'Why couldn't she have just said I'm sorry'

Asked whether he knew what he had done was wrong, Borutskianswered, "Yeah."

Asked whether he would take it back, hisanswer wasless clear.

"Of course I would. I don't know. Why? Doesn't make sense. Like when I asked Anastasia, 'Why did you lie?' Why couldn't she have just saidI'm sorry, and I'm sure then I would have stopped. That would have been enough. Or say it's because she lied, it would have stopped right there, but she still lied. And Carollies, and I talked with her so much about being honest and the truth and positive, and then she still lied. ... I don't have a bad bone in my body."

Asked whether he was sorry, BorutskitoldO'Neill he was.

"Of course I feel sorry.... I was thinking, but not thinking. I think I was thinkinga little better when I sat down at that picnic table and I started writing," Borutski said, referring to the moments before he was arrested.

'Would I ever like to know how this happened'

He saidhe had some bottles of booze with him, and that he had "planned on drinking and blowing my head off.

"But then by that time I started thinking about it,'Yeah, you can't do that, Basil, you're innocent. If you blow your head off you'll never go to heaven," he tells O'Neill.

Later, Borutskimakes a request for psychological help.

"I wish I could get some meds for my back for the pain, or see a doctor. Maybe I'd like to see a psychiatrist, geez, would I ever like to know how this happened."

O'Neill was the Crown's first witness in the trial, and most of his interview with Borutskiwas played in court Thursday and Friday last week.

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Forensic pathologist testifies

Later Tuesday, Crown attorney Jeffery Richardson called Dr. Christopher Milroy to the stand. He's the director of forensic pathology for the Ottawa Hospitaland he performed the autopsies on all three victims.

Culleton died of upper airway strangulation caused by a white coaxial cable wrapped around her mouth and neck, Milroy testified.

Warmerdam also died of a shotgun blast in the neck area, but this time the shell that was used contained birdshot, Milroy testified.

She likely collapsed immediately and died after a short time, like Kuzyk, and the shot appeared to have been fired from arelatively close distance of about one to two metres, Milroy told court.

Neighbour with Burutski night before killings

Later Tuesday, court heard testimony from Borutski's neighbour, Elizabeth Recoskie, who spent time in his apartment the night before the killings.

In court Recoskiewas nervousand had to check notes written bypolice during her interview in 2015 to refresh her memory as Crown attorney Julie Scott asked questions. Recoskietold the jury that the evening ofSept. 21, 2015, she took Borutskisome chicken for dinner because she'd overheard an argument between him and his daughter the previous day.

Borutskitold her he was depressed, she told court, and he spoke about the Bible.

"He was giving me an example between killing and murder," she told the jury. "He says, I could go and kill my ex-wife and the Bible would help him."

"He said, 'This Bible will be coming with me' if he would have killed his ex wife. If he'd be going tojail, the Bible would be coming with him," she testified.

He also told her he'd caught his girlfriend in bed with another man, and that he'd done work for the same woman at her cottage on Kamaniskeg Lake. While Recoskiecouldn't recall any names, court hadearlier heard that Culleton's cottage was on Kamaniskeg Lake Road, and that her killing took place there.

Lawyer James Foord, who was appointed to act as an amicus curiae friend of the court to prevent a miscarriage of justice, conducted a brief cross-examination, asking Recoskieif she'd made any notes of her conversations with Borutskior if their conversation the night before the killings had made any sense to her.

He also asked whether it was true that she told police Borutskihad written a "very nice message" to one of the victims, and that police should see it. "Yes," she testified.

Video surveillance footage

The last witness called Tuesday was Lorraine Limlaw, who works for the County of Renfrew as a social housing supervisor. She testified that she met wth Borutskito sign a lease for apartment 204 at 5967 Palmer Rd. in Palmer Rapids, Ont., in May 2015, and that he moved therein June.

Limlawalso testified that she was asked to prepare video surveillance footage for police.

Three videos were shown in court, showing Borutskidressed in camouflage pants anda blue long-sleeved shirt, and carrying a white plastic bag.

The first video, shot between 11:50 p.m. Sept. 21 and 12:01 a.m. Sept. 22, shows Borutskileaving his unit, walking through theparking lotof his building and up to a vehicle parked in the space reserved for fellow tenant Shirl Roesler. Borutskithen drives away.

The second video, shot between 1:20 a.m. and 1:32 a.m. on Sept. 22, shows Borutskidriving back into the lot, parking in Roesler's spot and returning to his unit.

The final video, shot between 7:36 a.m. and 7:41 a.m. on Sept. 22, shows Borutski, now wearing a wide-brimmed camouflagehat, leave his unit, walk up to the car in Roesler'sspot and drive away.

Borutskiremains silent in court

Borutski'strial before Justice Robert Marangeris scheduled to run for 17 weeks.

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Borutski has sat motionless and expressionless in the prisoner's boxso far, sometimes squeezing his eyes shut, sometimes watching the screen as the interview was played, sometimes looking at relatives and friends of the victims, andother times staring at the ceiling orthe floor.

Marangerhas repeatedly toldBorutskiand the court that his silence is being interpreted as acquiescence to the proceedings.

The trial resumes Wednesday morning.