Former Grande Prairie AHS officer convicted of sexually abusing a child

“Former Grande Prairie AHS Officer Receives Sentence for Sexually Abusing a Child”

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Leonard said she found the testimony of the applicant, who was 11 years old when he took the witness stand last month, more credible than that of de Villiers

dr Albert de Villiers, then the AHS North Zone health officer, receives a flu shot during a vaccination clinic in Grande Prairie in 2015. Photo by Alexa Huffman / Postmedia News file

A senior British Columbia health official was convicted of sexually abusing a child while living in Alberta.

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Alberta Court of King’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard found Dr. Albert de Villiers was found guilty on Tuesday of sexual assault and sexual interference for repeatedly molesting the son of a family friend between 2018 and 2020.

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At the time, de Villiers was Chief Health Officer for the North Zone of Alberta Health Services, based in Grande Prairie. He later moved to Kelowna for a position as Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Speaking remotely via video conference, Leonard said she found the complainant, who was 11 when he testified at the trial last month, more credible than de Villiers.

She also dismissed de Villiers’ claim that a voicemail he left on the boy’s father’s phone – in which he said he was “extremely sorry that what happened happened” – was simply the doctor apologizing for “rearing someone else’s child.”

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The case will next appear in court on February 13 to set a sentencing date. Leonard stayed the sexual assault charge against de Villiers for procedural reasons at the request of the Crown.

Court records show that de Villiers faces another trial this August in Grande Prairie for three sex offenses involving another child complainant.

During the trial in Grande Prairie last month, Leonard overheard de Villiers and the victim’s family meeting and becoming close family friends. De Villers and his wife frequently invited the family to their home and took the boy and his sister on walks and bike rides. He became particularly close with their son, who was seven when they met, bonded over Minecraft and a shared interest in nature photography. The children whose parents had emigrated to Canada began to think of the de Villiers as their Canadian grandparents. On several occasions they stayed at their home.

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De Villiers left Grande Prairie in July 2020 to assume the senior public health position at Interior Health. The families stayed in touch, but the mother became uncomfortable when de Villiers repeatedly urged the boy to wear headphones on video calls.

In May 2021, the boy told his mother that de Villiers showed him pornography and touched him sexually. The family immediately cut ties with the de Villiers and called RCMP. De Villiers attempted to call the boy’s father on June 7, 2021 and left a voicemail when he hung up. RCMP arrested de Villiers at his home the following day (de Villiers had met with police the week before to discuss death threats he had received as the face of Interior Health’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign.)

The voicemail became a key piece of evidence at the trial. De Villiers claimed he apologized for overly interfering in the boy’s life and told the court he believed the family was angry that he overstepped his bounds as a family friend. He denied having had any sexual contact with the boy, but admitted he had become too close and once shared a tent with the children in their backyard without telling their parents.

Prosecutor Amber Pickrell, on the other hand, argued that de Villiers made a clear apology for specific wrongdoing. She said he had reason to believe the boy’s parents were upset that the line between boyfriend and parent was being crossed, noting his language – she said: “It’s never happened before and it’s never going to either.” happen to someone else” and “I’ve done wrong things and I take responsibility” – was an obvious admission.

Pickrell noted that de Villiers initially told the RCMP he had no idea why the victim’s family cut off contact. Leonard agreed that this was evidence that de Villiers was “either trying to mislead the police … or he hadn’t yet settled on a story that the voicemail would explain.”

Leonard eventually concluded that de Villiers had sexually abused the boy five to eight times. He remains out on bail until sentencing.

Postmedia has reached out to Interior Health for comment.

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