A Toronto detective has been charged with neglect of duty and insubordination in connection with a domestic incident involving serial killer Bruce McArthur, a police source tells Global News.
According to Toronto police tribunal documents, 32 Division Det. Paul Gauthier is scheduled to appear at police headquarters for a hearing Tuesday morning.
The incident in question happened in 2016. A Toronto police source previously told Global News McArthur agreed to meet a man he became acquainted with through an online dating app.
The two agreed to meet for consensual sex at a secluded North York parking lot. During the date, the source said McArthur allegedly started to choke the man while the couple were in the back of McArthur’s red van. The man was able to fight McArthur off and told McArthur he was going to call police, the source said.
McArthur reportedly drove to the 41 Division police station in Scarborough where he told officers they were going to be called about a sexual assault, saying it wasn’t true and that it was consensual.
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As that was happening, the source said the man who was allegedly choked called police and officers from 32 Division in Toronto’s north end responded. At some point, the source said McArthur was placed under arrest and taken to 32 Division where the investigation continued.
McArthur, a 67-year-old self-employed landscaper, was interviewed before he was released. McArthur was not charged.
The lead investigator on the McArthur case, Insp. Hank Idsinga, told Global News in a March interview that he was asking for professional standards to conduct a probe. He said he was aware the incident may have been mishandled.
Lawrence Gridin, Gauthier’s lawyer, said in a statement that the decision not to charge McArthur “was made in conjunction with Det. Gauthier’s supervisor and based on the information available at the time.”
“Det. Gauthier conducted a proper investigation and fully documented the arrest of McArthur so that the information was available to all other investigators,” he wrote.
“McArthur’s monstrous nature was difficult to uncover because he led a life of extreme deception, not because of anything to do with the 2016 arrest. Det. Gauthier has great sympathy for the victims and the community.”
On Tuesday, McArthur pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Selim Esen, Andrew Kinsman, Majeed Kayhan, Dean Lisowick, Soroush Mahmudi, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Kirushna Kanagaratnam.
He is scheduled to appear in a downtown Toronto court on Monday for a sentencing hearing where an agreed statement of facts will be presented and victim impact statements will be heard.
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