Assault trial for Kelowna protest leader extended to December

Photo: Rob Gibson, File photo

David Lindsay, speaking at a protest outside the Kelowna CBC in 2020.

The assault trial for David Lindsay has been pushed back yet again after last week's four-day extension wasn't enough.

David Lindsay, one of the main people behind Kelowna's so-called “Freedom Rallies,” was charged with two counts of assault that allegedly occurred during an Aug. 19, 2021 protest outside the Doyle Avenue Interior Health building.

The relatively straight-forward trial, which includes video footage of Lindsay allegedly making physical contact with two security guards, was initially scheduled for just two days.

But after getting off to a bumpy start back on March 1, with Lindsay refusing to participate and technical issues, an additional four days was added to the trial, which ran last week from May 23 to 26.

But while evidence has now been presented by both the Crown and Lindsay, who's representing himself at trial, the two parties ran out of time Friday afternoon to make their closing submissions in the case.

As a result, an additional two more days of court time has been scheduled in the trial on Dec. 13 and 14.

A group of Lindsay's supporters has continued to attend the trial, filling several rows of the gallery in Kelowna's Courtroom 9. Last Friday, a sheriff momentarily stopped the proceedings to tell the group they needed to be quiet during the trial.

The trial has seen testimony from RCMP officers and security guards, along with video footage from the Aug. 19 protest, taken by a Lindsay supporter, of Lindsay walking into the two security guards as they blocked his entrance to the Interior Health building. That physical contact makes up what the Crown alleges to be the assault.

Lindsay had been banned from the building due to his conduct at a prior protest there. Lindsay has called the charges “politically motivated.”