'Nobody wants to hurt you': Basil Borutski trial hears from officer who texted suspect

An Ottawa police sergeant trained in negotiations counselled the suspect's brother on what to text to accused triple murderer Basil Borutski ahead of his arrest in a field west of Ottawa, the jury at Borutski's trial heard Tuesday.

The bodies of NathalieWarmerdam, 48, Carol Culleton,66, and Anastasia Kuzyk, 36,were found at their homes in and around the small community of Wilno, Ont., on Sept. 22, 2015.

Borutski, 60, faces three counts of first-degree murder and is representing himself at his trial before a jury. The court entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf after herefusedto enter one himself.

• FULL COVERAGE: Review all the court stories filed from this trial

Sgt. Cory Robertson told court Tuesday that the day of the killings he and his team were dispatched to the Kinburn area. He arrived at the command centre at KinburnSide and Becks roads at about 2 p.m. andwas instructed to speak with a man identified to him as Arthur Borutski, the brother of the suspect, Basil Borutski.

Robertsonwas also advisedthe suspect was wantedby OPPin connection to three homicides and that Arthur Borutski was textingwith him, he told the jury.

'Didn't want to trust me at first'

Robertson testified he told Arthur Borutski he wanted to resolve things by trying to get his brother to surrender peacefully.

"He didn't want to trust me at first. He had some concerns about his brother's safety," Robertson told court.

"I wanted to assure him nobody wanted to cause harm to anybody that day. It's not our role as police, it's not our desire, and I wanted him to understand that."

SoonArthur Borutskiand Robertson collaborated on what to text Basil Borutski.

Some of the messages they sent included: "Nobody wants to hurt you," "They said no torture," and "Follow the officer's instructions, hands up, no gun."

Robertson told court he eventually started textingBasil Borutskihimself.

"Ifelt that ifthere was going to be a surrender information needed to be passed on at a quicker pace," he explained.

The texts Robertson sent included,"Listen to the officers talking out to you," and "Nobody wants to hurt you, just follow instructions," court heard.

Suspect arrested

By 2:32 p.m. that day, Robertson was toldthe the tactical department had arrested Basil Borutski, evidence about which was heard in court Monday.

Other texts sent from Basil Borutski'snumber before his arrest included:

• "Helicopter is circling...I'm in [...] bush....yes I did it....they took my life away on me....I was innocent of every charge ever laid against .e"
• "The guilty have paid...justice finally...I.m tired"
• "If they would of listened to me none of this would of happened"
• "I was not guilty.the system destroyed me..I ha e nothing left"
• "Murder is killing something innocent..I didn.t."
• "I asked for gods help."
• "This is not my fault I tried to tell the truth. Nobody would listen."

Later Tuesday the trial heard testimony from Ottawa police tactical Const. Ben Moores, who was one of the officers who took part in Basil Borutski's arrest. Ottawa police Const. Salvatore Arella and OPP Const. Sarah Nitschmann testified they guarded a shotgun, ammunition and a note at the arrest scene.

Machete found in vehicle

And OPP Sgt. Shauna Marshall testified she seized the shotgun, ammo and note from the field he was arrested in, as well as other pieces of evidence, including a plastic drink bottle, a plastic bag with napkins and money inside, a spiral notebook.

She removed a live shell from the shotgun's chamber, as well as another two shells in the magazine.

She also seized a grey Mazda 3 found next to a wooded area not far from the arrest scene, behind the home of one of Borutski'srelatives.

The make and model are similar to victim Carol Culleton's vehicle, which court earlier heard was driven from her cottage to the residences of victims Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam.

Police discovered the case of the car battery was missing officers found it in the woods nearby and that a socket wrench was lodged between the battery and the vehicle's grill, she told court.

Marshall testified she later seized a number of items from inside the vehicleincludingkeys from the dashboard, cigarette packages, aMcDonald's bag, twotool kits, a large machete, the socket wrench under the hood, and a computer cord on thepassenger seat.

The vehicle was then sent to the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto for possible evidence processing, along with a number of other seized items from the three homicide scenes.