High-profile COVID-19 protocol protester convicted of assault

A high-profile anti-COVID-mandate protester has been found guilty on charges stemming from a conflict during the height of the pandemic.

David Lindsay was convicted on Wednesday of two counts of assault, in addition to one count of contempt of court, a representative from the BC Prosecution Service said.

The latter charge arose during the trial, which rolled out in dribs and drabs throughout most of the year.

“The matters were adjourned to Dec. 15 to fix a date for sentencing,” Dan McLaughlin from the BC Prosecution Service said.

“He was also found to be in contempt of court for comments to the court in proceedings on June 16, 2023. He has been given an opportunity to purge the contempt. That issue will be addressed at a date to be determined in January.”

Lindsay got into a conflict with Gregory Smith, the manager of protection services at Interior Health, on Aug. 19, 2021.

When Smith testified last year, he indicated he told Lindsay not to enter the Interior Health building but that his order was ignored.

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“When Mr. Lindsay started to approach the doorway, what if anything did you do with your body to get ready for it?” Crown prosecutor David Grabavac asked Smith in March as the remarkably slow trial continued.

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“I placed my feet and my body in a supportive position anticipating his trying to push past,” Smith said.

Lindsay, he said, was standing in a similar position with his arms at his sides, something that’s reinforced in video footage.

Police and about half a dozen protesters are also present when Lindsay walks forward, seemingly making contact with Smith. Police are then called in for what Smith described to them as “assault.”

The trial judge Cathaline Heindrichs said the issue at the heart of the trial is whether or not Lindsay used intentional force against Smith, but Lindsay tried to argue it was more complicated than that.

Self-represented throughout the trial, Lindsay asked Smith in cross-examination to go over some of the history they had.

Smith told the court that Lindsay had been among a group of people who often hurled insults and abusive and threatening comments in gatherings at the Interior Health building, but he had never seen Lindsay do as much.

The trial was originally scheduled for three days in March but stretched after a stuttered start, with Lindsay initially not wanting to participate.

When Judge Heinrichs was told by Lindsay Tuesday that she seemed to be rushing the progress of the trial along, potentially to the detriment of his defence, she indicated she has every intention of having the trial end by Friday.