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A Halifax Regional Police constable who assaulted an intoxicated homeless man lost his job Friday after he was sentenced to 90 days in jail, to be served on weekends.

Gary Basso, 39, was found guilty last June of assault causing bodily harm for striking Patrice Simard in the face outside the Metro Turning Point homeless shelter in Halifax on the night of Feb. 25, 2018.

Simard’s nose was broken in the encounter, which was captured on surveillance video that was shown at trial.

Basso was sentenced Friday in Halifax provincial court by Judge Laurel Halfpenny-MacQuarrie, who rejected the defence’s request for a conditional discharge.

The judge said it would have been “unfathomable” for her to find that it was in the public’s interest for Basso to get a discharge and avoid having a criminal record.

“We have a seasoned police officer encountering a homeless man at a shelter in the city centre on a cold February night … who was asking for assistance from the police, having been evicted from Metro Turning Point,” Halfpenny-MacQuarrie said. “Const. Basso told Mr. Simard he would not take him to the drunk tank, it was not a hotel, and he suggested he go on his way.

“Mr. Simard … was not prepared to go on his way, as he felt he was in danger of freezing to death. He had been dismissed from Metro Turning Point for drinking in his bunk and he had nowhere else to go. Const. Basso determined Mr. Simard to be resistant, and a gratuitous punch was launched by the officer … for no justified reason.

“Mr. Simard simply wanted assistance from the officer about seeking shelter. Instead, he suffered a broken nose from that very officer.”

Basso will serve his jail time at the Cape Breton Correctional Facility in Gardiner Mines from 8 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday, beginning Feb. 7. He will be in protective custody.

In addition to the jail term, the judge placed Basso on probation for one year, with conditions that he receive counselling for anger management and any other therapy deemed necessary by his probation officer and have no contact with Simard.

She also prohibited Basso from possessing firearms for 10 years and ordered him to provide a sample of his DNA for a national databank.

Basso and his lawyer, James Giacomantonio, had no comment for reporters as they left the courtroom.

Crown attorney Sylvia Domaradzki, who had asked for a sentence of six to nine months in jail, said she was “very content” with the judge’s decision.

“The Crown’s position was, and remains, that in order to address the principles of denunciation and deterrence and to address the circumstances of this particular crime, a jail sentence was warranted,” Domaradzki said.

She said she has talked to Simard throughout the process and “he’s doing well.”

“I will be advising him of the outcome,” the prosecutor said. “I know he’s going to find great relief in the fact that the matter is finished.”

Basso joined the Halifax police force in 2004 after working as an officer in Calgary for three years. He was suspended with pay in March 2018 and has been living in Glace Bay, where he operates a landscaping company.

A few hours after Friday’s sentencing, the police force announced Basso has been dismissed “effective immediately.”

“We recognize that the conviction of one of our officers for a criminal offence is deeply troubling,” Police Chief Dan Kinsella said in a statement. “Our officers’ conduct is critical to building and maintaining public trust, and we expect our officers to remain above reproach.”

In her verdict last June, the judge said Basso used excessive force against Simard that was “neither proportionate, nor reasonable, nor necessary.”

Halfpenny-MacQuarrie rejected Basso’s testimony that he acted in self-defence after Simard, who was on his knees, punched him on the left thigh and was coming at him with his arms extended.

She said the video of the interaction was “the best evidence” presented at trial, and that she watched it “too many times to count.”

“At the most, Mr. Simard was leaning toward Const. Basso to get the bag that Const. Basso was in control of and was moving from side to side in front of Mr. Simard,” she said.

“It looked like a game of fetch to this court. If it was Const. Basso’s intention to give Mr. Simard his backpack, why move it away?”

Simard testified that he had little memory of the encounter. After seeing the video in court for the first time, he said it appeared he was only trying to retrieve his treasured backpack, not punch Basso.

The judge said Simard’s explanation was “logical and supported by the movement on the video. I accept that that is what he did and he never punched Const. Basso, nor make any movement towards being assaultive in nature.”

She said “inaccuracies and omissions” in the officer’s notes and reports caused her great concerns about his recollection of the blow he delivered.

Basso was also accused of committing public mischief, with intent to mislead Const. Sue Conrad to continue an investigation, by authoring false police notes to divert suspicion from himself and onto Simard, who was initially charged with assaulting the officer.

The judge acquitted Basso on that charge, saying there was no evidence that he knew Conrad would have carriage of the file.

At sentencing, the defence tendered numerous letters from fellow officers and family members that portrayed Basso as a hard-working, award-winning officer and a tenacious investigator.

But the judge noted Basso’s disciplinary record with the force. In 2008, he was reprimanded for engaging in a relationship with a person who was an associate of known criminals in Halifax. In 2017, he was suspended with pay for 10 days for taking 700 grams of lidocaine, a cutting agent used by drug dealers, from a police exhibit locker in 2015 and giving it to a confidential informant.

More than a dozen officers attended Friday’s hearing and exchanged handshakes or hugs with Basso afterward.

“It’s always an extremely difficult occasion when a court is faced with sentencing a police officer,” the judge said.

“The court receives evidence every day from hard-working, professional police officers and appreciates their role in the protection of the public and that it is not always an easy job. It at times can be thankless, it can be lonely, but it can be rewarding.

“To have to sentence a police officer for an offence, particularly one which occurred in the execution of his duties, is regrettable. It causes public confidence in policing to be called into question, and it unfortunately can brush too broad a stroke on the profession in general.”