Serial rapist Sofyan Boalag sues after being stabbed in N.B. prison, left unable to walk

A man who terrorized women in St. John's in 2012 is now suing the federal government, saying he'll never walk again after being stabbed at a prison in Renous, N.B. 

Sofyan Boalag's statement of claim says he was incarcerated at the Atlantic Institution on Feb. 3, 2023, when prison staff opened the doors to all cells in one corridor simultaneously so inmates could line up for medication.

Boalag says he was attacked from behind and stabbed repeatedly.

"The plaintiff says that his injuries were catastrophic in nature, rendering him unable to walk for the rest of his life," reads the statement of claim, filed in Federal Court on Jan. 20.

Boalag was convicted of raping two women and a 15-year-old girl in Newfoundland during the summer and fall of 2012.

There were six complainants in total, with women describing how he choked them unconscious and threatened them with a knife on city streets in the early hours of the morning.

His spree led to widespread fear in the downtown core and a police warning prior to his arrest in December 2012.

Boalag was convicted in 2016, and declared a dangerous offender by the courts — resulting in an indeterminate prison sentence.

WATCH | CBC Investigates reporter Ryan Cooke breaks down the latest on Sofyan Boalag's new lawsuit: 

"I am not satisfied that there is a reasonable expectation that the public can be adequately protected from Mr. Boalag by a measure less than an indeterminate sentence," Judge Pamela Goulding said in her decision.

Boalag appealed that decision all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, which rejected his request in 2021.

According to the lawsuit, filed by Halifax-area lawyer Laura Neilan on behalf of Boalag, the inmates were released from their cells that day to line up for medication.

Boalag says he was approached from behind, and didn't see the attack coming. He says correctional officers failed to intervene in a timely fashion, leaving him vulnerable to multiple stabs from a "sharp weapon."

The lawsuit says the attacker was a man with "pre-indicators of violence" toward Boalag.