An RCMP officer has been fired after a disciplinary tribunal found he violated the force’s code of conduct when he beat and robbed a former girlfriend while they were in Croatia in 2012.

The former constable, Erwin Estrada, 42, and Svetlana Mitrovich, 35, had an on-again, off-again relationship that began in 2008 at a Brampton massage parlour.

The relationship eventually turned sour when the two had an altercation at Mitrovich’s condominium in Makarska, Croatia, on Aug. 3, 2012. The incident led to Estrada’s arrest by Croatian police and his eventual conviction for “malicious mischief and theft.”

But in the RCMP’s Notice of Disciplinary Hearing, a document that contains the force’s allegations against Estrada, the former officer is also said to have “physically assaulted S.M. (Mitrovich), causing her injury.” The tribunal agreed.

“It is not a fair fight. She has been drinking; he has not. He is taller and weighs between 80 and 100 pounds more than she does. As a mounted policeman, he was trained . . . in the ugly art of ground-fighting. . . . He’s been trained in tae kwon do and full-contact kickboxing and calls himself a very good fighter,” Insp. James Knopp said as he read out the tribunal’s ruling on Jan. 13 in Mississauga.

“He gave her a thorough and sound beating” said Knopp.

In all, Estrada was found to have contravened the force’s code of conduct four times.

The next day, the three-member board ordered Estrada to quit within 14 days. He did not resign and was served with an order of dismissal on March 8.

In a March 10 email sent to the Star, Estrada said he would file an appeal.

“I never stole her money, and I never destroyed her property. The evidence when properly assessed proves my innocence,” Estrada said Feb. 18 in an email to the Star.

And while the tribunal members concluded that both Mitrovich and Estrada were unreliable in their testimony, they faulted Estrada for not removing himself from the confrontation, citing the physical imbalance between the two.

A Mountie since 2005, Estrada went to the RCMP’s training division in Saskatchewan and worked in Manitoba and, more recently, at the force’s Toronto Airport Detachment, the tribunal heard. The tribunal hearing covered the time he was assigned to the RCMP division that includes the airport detachment.

The disciplinary action began after a friend of Mitrovich’s contacted an RCMP officer in August 2012 and said that a member of the force had been arrested in Croatia. The officer was eventually identified as Estrada. He returned to Canada a few days after his arrest, the disciplinary hearing document said.

Knopp, chair of the disciplinary board, said anyone reading the electronic messages exchanged between the two before the Croatia trip “would come to the conclusion that the two lovers were anticipating a tryst.” But the trip did not go as planned, and Knopp said Estrada was hurt when Mitrovich was uninterested and brought a boyfriend to her condo that day in August. Mitrovich testified that she had earlier asked Estrada to leave and the beating took place when the officer returned.

At the time, Estrada also damaged two of Mitrovich’s cellphones and stole $900 from her condominium, the board found. The theft and damage are what led to Estrada’s charges in Croatia, the disciplinary notice said.

“No one can tell you anything, Const. Estrada. You refused to heed sensible warnings from important people to stay away from this woman,” Knopp said as he read out the sanction ruling at the tribunal.

Estrada and Mitrovich met in 2008 at the massage parlour where she worked, and moved in together in 2009, Estrada told the tribunal. They broke up shortly after, but would reconnect and have sex several times, according to Estrada.

By the summer of 2012, the relationship was strictly platonic, Estrada said. The Sarajevo-born Mitrovich was in Croatia that summer, where she sometimes travelled. Estrada told the tribunal said he went there to make it clear to her their romantic relationship was over.

But the tribunal was skeptical of his testimony.

During the hearing, defence lawyer John Phillips suggested Mitrovich blamed Estrada and sought revenge for her parents learning of her work at massage parlours, which sometimes involved paid sex.

The firing of an RCMP officer is rare, said Jean Lavigne, a counsel with the Department of Justice, who served as the prosecutor at the hearing.

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Lavigne said during the hearing that the seriousness of the allegations against Estrada, including assault, theft and destruction of property, suggested a need for dismissal. The tribunal also heard of Estrada’s past misconduct, involving unauthorized database searches and improper behaviour in court.

“The simple fact that there is prior discipline calls for harsher sanction,” Lavigne told the tribunal.

The three tribunal members agreed.

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