BC Interior posted May 22, 2025 @ 09:42am by Cheyanna Lorraine

IH's former top doctor who was convicted of sex crimes surrenders licence

Two years after being convicted of sexual interference against a child in Alberta, Interior Health’s former Chief Medical Health Officer has surrendered his licence with the the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia.

According to a decision posted May 20, Albert Stefanus De Villiers agreed to not only give up his medical licence but also never reapply in BC or any other jurisdiction to practice medicine.

<who> Photo Credit: IH file picture

The decision said De Villiers agreed to voluntarily resign effective Mar. 1, 2023.

On May 2, 2025, he formally surrendered his medical licence.

Charges against De Villiers came to light in summer 2021 and the offences were reported to have taken place between 2018 and 2020.

On Feb. 7, 2023, De Villiers was found guilty of sexual interference and sentenced to five and a half years in prison. A charge of sexual assault was stayed.

“The Inquiry Committee concluded that Dr. De Villiers’s conduct was egregious and determined that his irrevocable commitment to resign as a registrant of CPSBC and to never reapply for registration in British Columbia or any other jurisdictions was appropriate in the circumstances,” the College said in its decision.

De Villiers practiced in Kelowna after being appointed as IH’s Chief Medical Health Officer during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in summer 2020.

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