Witness box and judge's bench at the Edmonton Law Courts building, in Edmonton on Friday, June 28, 2019. A judge has sentenced a former medical health officer to 5-1/2 years in prison for sexually assaulting a young child in northern Alberta.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – A judge has sentenced a former medical health officer to 5-1/2 years in prison for sexually assaulting a young child in northern Alberta.
Dr. Albert de Villiers, who is 54, was found guilty of sexual assault and sexual interference of a boy in Grand Prairie, Alta., between 2018 and 2020.
The child, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, was seven when the abuse began.
The boy testified at trial that de Villiers showed him pornography and touched him several times at the doctor’s home.
De Villiers was arrested in 2021 while he was chief medical officer of health for B.C.’s Interior Health.
He previously worked as the top public health doctor in northern Alberta.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard says the doctor’s career has been left in ruin, and there is no way for him to restore his credibility.
