Bullard receives probation for harassment of ex-girlfriend

“This is the day I get my voice back.”

CityNews reporter Cynthia Mulligan read a brief, emotional victim impact statement in a downtown courtroom Friday after ex-boyfriend Mike Bullard pleaded guilty to one count of making harassing phone calls. She blasted the Toronto comedian and talk-show host for his obsessive behaviour.

“Harassment is an ugly thing. It seeps into your mind and destroys your sense of peace and security,” Mulligan said, in a calm and steady voice. “I’m going to call it what it is — it is abuse.”

The two-year litigation process ended with Bullard’s plea Friday. In addition to one count of harassing phone calls, Bullard also pleaded guilty to two breaches of a court order — one of which required him to have no contact, direct or indirect, with Mulligan.

Bullard, 60, was discharged from court with a clean criminal record and six months of probation.

The charges were placed in late 2016. By then, Bullard and Mulligan had ended an eightmonth relationship, during which they had broken up at least three times.

The harassment started in July 2016, when Mulligan report- ed Bullard to Toronto Police for a barrage of text messages he continued to send her despite their relationship being over.

Police gave Bullard a warning. In August 2016, she started receiving text messages from Bullard and anonymous phone calls from a Bell pay phone. Surveillance video later showed the calls were coming from Bullard.

In her statement to the court, Mulligan said Bullard would drive by her work and send her texts and phone calls while she was reporting on air, and even threatened to talk negatively about her on his radio show.

“Your irrational behaviour was escalating,” she told the court. “I was scared.”

When it was his turn to speak, Bullard kept it brief: “I want to try and rebuild my life,” he said. “I have no intention of contacting her in any shape or form.

“It won’t happen again your honour,” he said.