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By The News Team



A crown prosecutor is looking to designate a former University of Ottawa student as a “dangerous offender” following his fourth conviction of criminal harassment against his former girlfriends, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

On Nov. 1, Cody Boast, 27, was found guilty of criminally harassing his ex-girlfriend in February, as well as breaching seven court conditions for a previous criminal harassment conviction.

The woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, first broke up with Boast in 2013 after reading in an article that he pleaded guilty to criminally harassing two of his ex-girlfriends.

Superior Court Justice Heather Williams said, “[The victim] did not want to become the next former girlfriend to be harassed by him,” the Ottawa Citizen reported.

After the woman broke off the eight-month relationship, Boast messaged her incessantly, asking her to reconsider. He then began to blackmail her.

Boast, then a University of Ottawa student, had nude photos and videos of her. He sent them to her mother, employer and her family priest, saying he had to “show everyone the sort of person she was.”

The woman also received an email and a Twitter notification from an account that had her photos attached. During the 2013 trial, Boast pleaded guilty for criminal harassment, for the third time, in this case.

In February 2016, Boast encountered the woman again at an NHL game and later testified he only smiled at her. The woman, however, said she panicked at the sight of Boast, who stepped in front of her and blocked her path, forcing her to walk around him.

She said Boast followed her and a friend and she heard him speaking into a cell phone and saying her name out loud. He broke court provisions by carrying a cellphone and coming closer than 500 metres to the victim.

Williams said she found Boast’s testimony to be “implausible” and his manner of testimony to be lacking in credibility.

The Crown prosecutor, Tim Wightman, requested to have Boast’s bail revoked immediately after he was found guilty of a fourth count of criminal harassment and breaking seven court provisions.

However, Boast’s lawyer said the ruling would be vindictive as Boast had not broken any provisions since moving to Toronto three years ago.

Wightman said he will consider a dangerous offender assessment and seek a federal penitentiary term for Boast in the Crown’s sentencing submissions.

“Mr. Boast has put the public at risk, and in particular his female ex-partners on at least four occasions,” Wightman said. “This is conduct that is not stopping despite court orders, and criminal convictions imposing lengthy jail sentences.”

The hearing is set for December.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Cody Boast is a Ryerson University student. The Eyeopener regrets this error.