Interior Health’s former top doctor to stand trial on assault charges

The Alberta court system continues to move forward with charges against Interior Health’s former chief medical health officer.

Dr. Albert Stefanus de Villiers, who was until June 2021 the health authority’s top doctor, has been “ordered to stand trial” on charges of sexual assault and sexual interference following an April 12 preliminary inquiry in Grande Prairie, Alta. The trial date will be scheduled at a yet-to-be-disclosed time in the future.

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The charges of sexual assault and sexual interference, according to court documents, are for events that allegedly took place between June 15, 2018, and July 31, 2020, near Grande Prairie.

Information on the charge alleges that de Villiers unlawfully committed a sexual assault upon the victim between those dates and the interference charge alleges that de Villiers “did for a sexual purpose, unlawfully touch, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, a part of the body (of) a person under the age of 16 years old.”

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De Villiers was arrested on June 8 in Kelowna, with assistance from Kelowna RCMP. He was in custody overnight and on June 9 released on a release order by consent in the amount of $1,500 with no cash deposit or surety, with conditions.

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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.