Convicted rapist who attacked Newfoundland women dies in custody of Ontario prison

Sofyan Boalag is shown in provincial court in St. John's on Friday Aug. 26, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sue Bailey

ST. JOHN’S — A man convicted of raping two women and a 15-year-old girl in downtown St. John’s, N.L., died in federal custody on Saturday, says Correctional Service Canada.

Sofyan Boalag died while serving an indeterminate sentence at the Bath Institution, about 20 kilometres west of Kingston, Ont., the agency said in a news release Monday. He was 46.

A spokesperson said privacy laws prevented the agency from saying how Boalag died or whether his death was in hospital. “A quality-of-care review will be conducted to examine the facts surrounding the offender’s death, and the cause of death will be determined by the coroner,” said Kerry Gatien in an email Tuesday.

Laura Neilan, Boalag’s lawyer, said she had no information about Boalag’s death, nor did the member of his family who had told her about it.

Boalag was convicted in 2016 of 13 crimes including sexual assault with a weapon. He attacked his victims in 2012 as they walked home alone at night, using a knife or sharp object to threaten them. He strangled one woman until she passed out.

Before his arrest that year, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary had issued a public warning about “an unidentified offender” who may have been responsible for sexual assaults in the city. The force said women walking alone after dark could be at greater risk and it urged them to take precautions.

In January, Boalag filed a lawsuit in Federal Court that said he’d been stabbed in 2023 by a fellow inmate at the Atlantic Institution in Renous, N.B. The lawsuit said he would never walk again because of his injuries.

In a statement of defence, Canada’s attorney general said Boalag had provoked the attack.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2025.