A man has been acquitted of heroin trafficking charges after a Superior Court judge found a 31-year veteran Toronto police officer repeatedly misled court and then ignored a subpoena to answer questions about his evidence.

Rather than respond to questions about his testimony in the case, Det. Const. Daryl Gazey retired from the Toronto Police Service and travelled to Italy, Justice Anne London-Weinstein said in her decision Friday.

Because Gazey is no longer an officer, he will not face an internal discipline investigation, Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray said following the judge’s ruling.

Gazey was an undercover officer and a key Crown witness meant to establish that Siavash Norouzian trafficked in heroin on two occasions in October 2013 and possessed $200 in proceeds of crime — the “buy money” from a police sting.

During the May 2018 trial, Gazey testified he had arranged to buy heroin after receiving an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip that Norouzian was selling the drug.

Gazey claimed he called Norouzian’s phone once, at 4:20 p.m. on Oct. 23, 2013, and spoke to a man with “strong, thick Middle Eastern accent,” then later that day received another call and “immediately recognized the voice.”

But, London-Weinstein said, forensic evidence undermined that claim. The problem, she said, was that “the 4:20 p.m. call never happened.”

“I found that the officer was not being honest with the court,” London-Weinstein said, appearing in a Toronto courtroom by video from Ottawa, where she now sits.

The judge rejected the Crown’s submission that the officer was simply mistaken about the time of the call and that it wasn’t important anyway. She also cited other examples of Gazey’s evidence being contradicted by phone logs.

For those reasons, London-Weinstein said she was unable to rely on his testimony about a hand-to-hand heroin transaction alleged to have taken place in a supermarket.

“I found Detective Constable Gazey to be not credible as a witness,” she said.

After Gazey’s testimony, the judge granted a defence request to reopen the case to question him about his statements.

Despite being served a subpoena, “Gazey, whose credibility was so central in this case, never did return to trial,” the judge said. “Instead, he retired from the Toronto Police Service and travelled to Italy instead of returning to face questions regarding forensic phone evidence.”

Therefore, she continued: “Many of the remaining questions surrounding the disparities between the forensic evidence versus the evidence of the officer remain unanswered.”

While the judge said she found it was “probable” that Norouzian had some involvement in a trafficking operation, her “suspicions are not the test in law. I must be sure before I can find Mr. Norouzian guilty. Given my concerns about the credibility of Detective Constable Gazey, I am not satisfied that Mr. Norouzian is guilty.”

Defence lawyer Greg Lafontaine, who represented Norouzian, said it’s rare for judges to say a police witness misled court and that they’ll only do so when it’s “clear as a bell,” adding that “no one should hold their breath about a followup investigation.”

Gray, the police spokesperson, confirmed Gazey left Toronto police in August 2018, but declined to respond to Lafontaine’s comments, saying: “I can tell you that the Service is notified of any concerns regarding any member’s testimony through the Ministry of the Attorney General. When these concerns are brought to our attention, the matter is then reviewed by Professional Standards and, if appropriate, disciplinary action is taken.”

Gazey could not be reached for comment.

In 2018, he attended an Ontario drug investigator and expert witness conference in which he appeared on a panel of prosecutors and police that discussed testifying in court, preparing for cross-examination and ethics.

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London-Weinstein also concluded in her judgment that it would be “unsafe” to rely on the evidence of Toronto police Sgt. Sean Sutton, who also arrested Norouzian. Sutton lost his notes about his role in this investigation — and failed to report that fact — and wrote an investigative report two years after Norouzian’s arrest, she said.

The judge said her concerns about Sutton related to the reliability of his memory, not his credibility.

During the trial, Lafontaine argued his client was merely an addict associating with his heroin supplier, who had pleaded guilty before the trial began.