The man charged earlier this week in the deaths of three women he knew in the Wilno, Ont., area had been convicted of choking one of them less than two years ago.

Basil Borutski, 57, was on probation for choking Anastasia Kuzyk, 36, with his bare hands following his release from jail.

Court records show he had refused to sign a probation order to stay away from and not communicate with Kuzyk, whom he choked on Dec. 30, 2013.

Kuzyk and two other women — Carol Culleton, 66, and Nathalie Warmerdam, 48 — were found dead Tuesday at three separate locations within a 25-kilometre radius of Wilno, west of Ottawa.

Borutski was arrested in Ottawa later Tuesday and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

A candlelight vigil is being held in honour of the women at Heritage Park in Wilno on Friday evening.

The bodies of Anastasia Kuzyk, Nathalie Warmerdam and Carol Culleton were found at three separate locations near Wilno, Ont., on Tuesday. (CBC News)

Court records show Borutski was convicted on Sept. 12, 2014, of assaulting Kuzyk, as well as burning an antique rocking horse she owned on the same day he choked her in December 2013.

Weeks later, on Jan. 23, 2014, Borutski stole a vehicle belonging to a relative of Kuzyk and drove it while being prohibited from doing so. He also was in possession of a cross-bow despite being prohibited from having one.

He was sentenced to 19 months in jail, banned from possessing weapons for life and ordered to provide a sample of his DNA and not communicate with Kuzyk or one of her relatives.

He was released from jail on Dec. 27, 2014, a little more than three months after being sentenced, after receiving credit for the time he served in custody prior to sentencing.

In two places where Borutski was supposed to sign his probation order, a court official's handwritten notes say he refused to do so. It appears the official's handwritten notes were also initialled.

Incident involving Warmerdam in 2012

Borutski also had a criminal history involving Warmerdam, court records show.

In July 2012, he threatened to kill an animal belonging to Warmerdam and to physically harm one of her relatives. A month earlier he broke her closet door mirror.

He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and served seven after being given credit for his pre-sentence time in custody.

Charges that he also allegedly threatened to kill his ex-wife, assaulted Warmerdam and failed to keep the peace were stayed at the request of the Crown prosecutor.

CBC News is not naming the ex-wife out of respect for her privacy.

Other incidents date back to early 2000s

​The incidents involving Warmerdam and Kuzyk weren't Borustki's first.

He was charged with harassing another woman between January and February 2010, a charge which was stayed at the request of the Crown later that year.

Then, in July 2011, he was charged with assaulting yet another woman and with failing to keep the peace. Those charges were also stayed.

In June 2012, about a month before threatening to kill Warmerdam's dog and hurt her relative, Borutski consented to a $500 peace bond after he was charged with threatening to kill his ex-wife between 2000 and 2008, and of assaulting her in August 2008.

Both of those charges were stayed when the peace bond was agreed to.

In September 2012, Borutski assaulted an OPP officer who was trying to arrest him, and also assaulted one of his own relatives. A charge that he urinated on the wall and carpet of his cell was stayed.

It was that same OPP officer who laid the charges against Borutski in the incidents involving Kuzyk, Warmerdam, his ex wife and the other two women, documents show.

The same officer charged Borutski with failing to provide a breath sample in January 2010, for which Borutski was fined $1,200.

Probation order would still apply

Even though Borutski's signature doesn't appear on the probation order to stay away from Kuzyk, he still would have been legally obligated to follow it, said Trevor Brown, president of the Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa.

"The probation order takes effect the moment the person steps out of the door of the prison," said Brown.

"Typically the defence lawyers aren't there when the probation order is signed, though, from my experience, most often the probation orders are signed," Brown added.