Dr. Albert de Villiers, the former Chief Medical Health Officer in Interior Health, will be going on trial in Alberta next year on sexual assault charges.

The trial is scheduled to take place between Jan. 10 and Jan. 12, 2023, in Grand Prairie, with de Villiers also scheduled for a pre-trial conference that is set to begin on Oct. 21.

de Villiers was arrested in Kelowna in June last year, and charged with sexual assault and sexual interference against a minor. The charges are for events that allegedly took place between June 15, 2018, and July 31, 2020, near Grande Prairie.

He was granted bail the following day, June 9, with a number of conditions including not going near or contacting any witnesses or victims in the case, and with an order to not be in public parks, community centres, schools, daycares, or other places where people under the age of 16 might be, unless with an approved person.

That same day Interior Health named Dr. Sue Pollock as the health authority’s interim Chief Medical Health Officer, a position she still holds to this day.

de Villiers moved to Kelowna in August 2020 to take on the job as top doctor for Interior Health, after 16 years in Grande Prairie as the Lead Medical Health Officer for Alberta Health Services’ North Zone.

More to come