Halifax police officer pleads guilty to assault charge

A Halifax Regional Police officer has pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman at her home in Hammonds Plains in September.

Det. Const. Joseph Farrow, 51, entered the plea Thursday in Halifax provincial court.

He will be sentenced in April, after a presentence report requested by the defence is prepared for the court.

Farrow, a 23-year member of the police force, was arrested Sept. 18 after a woman came home to discover an unwanted person in her residence. He was off-duty at the time.

Farrow was originally charged with sexual assault for allegedly inappropriately touching the woman, but Crown attorney Peter Dostal amended the charge to common assault Thursday.

A charge of unlawfully entering the house was withdrawn.

The province's Serious Incident Response Team investigated the case and laid the charges. In a Sept. 19 news release, SIRT said Farrow and the complainant knew each other.

There's a publication ban on the identity of the victim.

Farrow was not injured in the incident but was taken to hospital the next morning while still in custody and was admitted for observation.

He was arraigned in his hospital bed later that day and released on a $500 recognizance, with conditions requiring him to have no contact with the complainant or members of her family and stay away from her residence.

Farrow is prohibited from having any weapons and from possessing or consuming alcohol or drugs. He must report to regional police in person or by phone every Monday and Friday.

The detective remains suspended with pay. He was accompanied to court Thursday by Sgt. Dean Stienburg, president of the Halifax Regional Police Association, which represents officers.