Toronto officer who arrested, released Bruce McArthur found not guilty of disciplinary charges

Paul Gauthier is seen in this undated photo.

TORONTO -

A Toronto police officer who was facing disciplinary charges in connection with the 2016 arrest and release of serial killer Bruce McArthur has been found not guilty.

Sgt. Paul Gauthier was charged with insubordination and neglect of duty under the Police Services Act in connection with his handling of a complaint by a man who alleged McArthur tried to strangle him.

Following the complaint, he interviewed McArthur, but released him without charges. 

Gauthier pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2019 and he was acquitted on all counts on Monday. 

"I will not pretend that this investigation was perfect," retired Supt. Dave Andrews said in the decision. "It was not."

"While I would have preferred further steps to be taken, nothing has been presented to demonstrate, to any degree of certainty, that had those steps been taken, Sergeant Gauthier could have formed reasonable grounds."

In 2019, Gauthier penned a letter to his colleagues stating that he believed he was being used as a "scapegoat" over the police handling of the McArthur investigation. 

"There have been many sleepless nights thinking about McArthur’s unspeakable crimes, his victims and their families, and the fact that my employer has effectively set me up to be their fall guy for all of this," Gauthier said. 

McArthur pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Andrew Kinsman, Selim Esen, Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick, Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi and Kirushna Kumar Kanagaratnam. 

The men were murdered by McArthur between 2010 and 2017. All eight of the victims had ties to Toronto's gay village.