Michael Gordon Jackson allegedly abducted his daughter to avoid a COVID-19 vaccine in the fall of 2021. On Wednesday, multiple friends and acquaintances took the stand in court.
The 53-year-old man, who is representing himself, allegedly contravened a custody order by taking the child with intent to keep her from her mother.
Warren Dalziel runs an automotive business in Oxbow, Sask., and says he has known Jackson for a number of years.
Dalziel told the courtroom that roughly two weeks before Jackson left town, he had the brakes worked on in his vehicle.
Throughout Jackson’s disappearance, Dalziel said he helped maintain Jackson’s property and paid taxes on it while he was away.
“I watched the place after he left,” he said. “I paid all the taxes… about $700 a month.”
Throughout the months Jackson was gone, the two men talked roughly 10 times, with each call or text coming from Jackson under an anonymous number according to Dalziel.
“I had no way of contacting Michael while he was gone,” Dalziel explained.
During cross-examination, Dalziel went on to say Jackson had an “exceptional” relationship with his daughter since she was born.
Another friend of Jackson’s, Shawn Sim, said their two families would get together, and Sim would occasionally drive the daughter to the mother’s house.
He said there was a change in demeanour when the daughter was being taken back home.
“There was a difference between drop off and pick up with the mother,” Sim told the courtroom. He went onto say Jackson had a very close relationship with his daughter, and she felt safe in his care from his perspective.
Throughout Jackson’s disappearance, Sim said he continued to receive texts from him, and Jackson asked Sim to act as a middleman to talk with the RCMP. RCMP gave messages back to pass to Jackson.
Sim said he never knew where Jackson went.
The trial will continue Thursday with multiple RCMP officers set to testify.