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A detective who investigated Bruce McArthur for assault in 2016 failed to follow procedures dealing with domestic violence when he let the murderer go without charges, according to details of the officer’s disciplinary case released Tuesday.

Toronto Police Service Sergeant Paul Gauthier crossed paths with Mr. McArthur more than two years before the landscaper was identified as a serial killer.

Sgt. Gauthier will go to trial this fall. He was charged in January with insubordination and neglect of duty.

The notice of hearing in Sgt. Gauthier’s case, which details the allegations against him, hadn’t been public until now because he hasn’t appeared in person at his disciplinary hearings, citing health problems.

On Tuesday, Sgt. Gauthier’s lawyer, Lawrence Gridin, didn’t oppose the prosecution’s decision to release the notice of hearing. Mr. Gridin said his client wanted to “move the matter forward” and agreed to trial dates between Oct. 21 and 25.

In June, 2016, Mr. McArthur had already killed six men. A special police task force had tried in vain to solve the disappearance of three of those victims.

Sgt. Gauthier was then a domestic-violence investigator attached to 32 Division in North York. He was on duty the evening of June 20 when two constables brought in a man for domestic assault – Mr. McArthur.

"The man under arrest and the victim were casual intimate partners," the notice of hearing said.

According to a police affidavit unsealed in February, Mr. McArthur was in his van with the other man, in the parking lot of a Tim Hortons. They were kissing when Mr. McArthur suddenly started to strangle the man.

The victim managed to free himself and called police. He had a sore throat and trouble swallowing, according to the notice of hearing.

The notice says Sgt. Gauthier failed to follow internal procedures for domestic violence.

It says he didn’t “conduct a thorough and complete investigation,” failed to take a video statement from the victim and didn’t take a second set of photos of the injuries between 48 and 72 hours after the incident.

According to the affidavit, Mr. McArthur told police that after he pinched his victim’s penis, the man asked to be pinched harder “causing McArthur to believe he wanted it rough.”

Sgt. Gauthier "indicated that McArthur appeared genuine and credible in his recall of the incident. It was determined that there were no grounds to lay charges," the affidavit said.

Mr. McArthur eventually pleaded guilty in January to the first-degree murder of eight men between 2010 and 2017, including two who were killed after the 2016 incident. He received a life sentence.

Mr. Gridin has argued that Sgt. Gauthier kept good records of the case, which later enabled investigators to identify Mr. McArthur as a person of interest.

After Mr. McArthur’s last victim, Andrew Kinsman, went missing in 2017, homicide detectives found that Mr. Kinsman had written the word “Bruce” on his calendar and was seen getting into a 2004 red Dodge Caravan.

Only five men named Bruce owned a similar vehicle and only one, Mr. McArthur, had a previous contact with police, in the 2016 assault incident.

“The nature of this contact which involved a reported choking of a victim who escaped became relevant in identifying Mr. McArthur as a person of interest,” the court was told in January when the serial killer was sentenced.

At the same time, because homicide investigators learned more about the 2016 case, it was eventually referred to the force’s Professional Standards unit for review, paving the way for the charges against Sgt. Gauthier.

Mr. Gridin told the tribunal on Tuesday that he is still waiting to hear from Police Chief Mark Saunders on a request to have an independent judge to handle the case rather than the police superintendent who would normally be adjudicating.

Sgt. Gauthier has appeared before the disciplinary tribunal before, in 2017, on allegations that while he was with the sex-crimes unit he failed to proceed in a sexual-assault investigation despite a DNA match. That charge was eventually withdrawn, and he was disciplined within his unit.

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