File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Kathy Michaels / Global News

Albert de Villiers

Child sex assault trial for Interior Health’s former top doctor gets underway in Alberta

Jan 11, 2023 | 9:29 AM

GRANDE PRAIRIE, AB. — The sex assault trial for Interior Health’s former chief medical health officer got underway in Grande Prairie, Alta., on Tuesday.

Dr. Albert Stefanus de Villiers, who was the B.C. health authority’s top doctor until June 2021, is on trial for charges of sexual assault and sexual interference in the northern Alberta city.

The trial is scheduled for three days and started with a voir dire, which will determine whether some of the testimony will be admitted as evidence.

The charges of sexual assault and sexual interference, the court heard, are for events alleged to have taken place between June 15, 2018, and July 31, 2020, near Grande Prairie.

The court heard that the alleged victim of sexual touching was a minor whose family was familiar with de Villiers, 54.

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Evidence submitted by the Crown on the first day of the trial included testimony from the alleged victim, their parent and a police officer who took a statement when the complaint was initially made.

One more witness for the Crown is expected to testify Wednesday.

Due to the age of the people involved in the trial, there’s a publication ban covering their identities and anything that may offer insight into them.

De Villiers was arrested on June 8, 2021, with assistance from Kelowna RCMP.

He was in custody overnight and on June 9 was released on a release order by consent in the amount of $1,500 with no cash deposit or surety, with conditions.

De Villiers took over as chief medical health officer of Interior Health in August 2020.

Previously he worked out of Grande Prairie as the lead medical health officer with Alberta’s north zone. He originally came to Canada from South Africa.