Finally fired my grad student

One of my PhD students has been with me for about a year. From the beginning mentoring him has been a struggle. He is often absent, get very little done when present, is always full of complaints and excuses, and gets into conflicts with others on a weekly basis. Whenever I give him any feedback he'll say anything he can think of to invalidate my concerns without modifying his behavior in the slightest. And then say that any motivation he used to have is going away because of my comments. He has been absolutely driving me nuts.

I finally worked up the courage to ask him to leave my group at the end of the semester (I've never fired a grad student before so it wasn't so easy for me). I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me. I only regret I didn't do it sooner.

Anyone with similar experiences?