ST. THOMAS — During Herbert Hildebrandt’s testimony at his assault trial, there was a breath-takingly ironic pandemic twist.
ST. THOMAS – During Herbert Hildebrandt’s testimony at his assault trial, there was a breath-takingly ironic pandemic twist.
Hildebrandt, 38, the son of outspoken, anti-restriction advocate Pastor Henry Hildebrandt, was describing his confrontation with Jack Dykxhoorn, a feisty 84-year-old who already was recovering from a broken shoulder and arm when he was pushed up against his pickup truck and onto the ground leaving him with cracked ribs on Dec. 10, 2020.
Dykxhoorn tested 10 months ago at the first day of the Ontario Court of Justice trial where Hildebrandt has pleaded not guilty to assault. He described how was pushed to the ground by an angry Hildebrandt in the laneway of the late Ed Thompson’s farm across the road from the Church of God on the outskirts of Aylmer, where a national spotlight shone on the anti-restriction movement during the pandemic.
Hildebrandt was angry, he said, after Dykxhoorn and his mischievous coffee klatch buddies had planted a sign that said Be kind, wear a mask in front of the scofflaw church. In his closing argument, defense lawyer Lakin Afolabi called the sign caper an act of “octogenarian trolling.”
But that wasn’t the ironic part. Hildebrandt spent Wednesday morning in the witness box describing the moments leading to the “push” as a confrontation with two agitated potty-mouthed seniors – Dykxhoorn and his pal, Walter Morgan, 82, – who “rapidly” approached him and he pushed back in self-defense when Dykxhoorn chest-bumped him three times.
Before the push, Dykxhoorn was so close Hildebrandt said he could see the saliva spitting out of his mouth. “He was not wearing a mask,” he said.
So, Dykxhoorn, a pro-masker, wasn’t masked when he was toe-to-toe with Hildebrandt, the anti-masker concerned about saliva droplets in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hildebrandt reminded the court the incident happened at the height of pandemic fears when tensions were high in Aylmer and the church was in the middle of it.
Hildebrandt, who said he helped collect evidence and liaise with police, testified the church was on high-alert in December 2020 because there had been incidents of trespassing and attempted vandalism. There were concerns, especially with children attending school at the church’s academy. He said a week earlier the police had been called after someone was taking videos of children on the property.
He dropped three of his children off at school that morning. About an hour later, his uncle, the school’s dean of discipline, called him after a red truck and some people were seen near the church property driveway and a sign had been stuck into the ground. A red truck had left and was at the Thompson farm across the street. It was, he said, “a low level emergency.”
The court has heard the farm is where Dykxhoorn and his buddies met every morning, even after the owner passed away.
Hildebrandt said he was at his desk at PFI Industries, where he said he is an executive. He hopped in his truck and headed to the farm. The church had been given access to the barn and its contents by the Thompson family after Ed Thompson passed away.
He saw the red truck near the end of the laneway. He said he drove up and rolled down his window and took a photo of the license plate, which he said was “standard procedure in every incident I’m involved in.”
Then, he took a photo of Dykxhoorn, whom he didn’t know, sitting in his his truck. Hildebrandt testified he said, “Good morning.” Dykxhoorn “didn’t seem to be in a talkative mood,” Hildebrandt said.
Hildebrant said he asked Dykxhoorn if he had been across the street at the church. The response, he said was “f—off.”
The conversation was Hildebrandt asking questions and Dykxhoorn replying with f-bombs, Hildebrandt said. When Hildebrandt accused him of putting up the sign, Dykxhoorn said, “It’s none of your business. I can do whatever I want.”
So, Hildebrandt said he parked his truck, got out and told Dykxhoorn he was going to walk to the church to fetch the sign. He said he saw other people milling around near the house and some vehicles parked on the road.
He turned, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dykxhoorn and Morgan, 82, “coming toward me rapidly.” Morgan dropped another expletive and told Hildebrandt to leave, he said, and the men called him “crazy” and “an anti-masker.”
Hildebrandt said Dykxhoorn, who had his hands in his pants pockets, was more aggressive of the two. “I just remember a lot of swearing,” he said and words like, “We’re coming to get you.”
What followed were the chest-belly bumps. “If you keep coming, I will push you off me,” he said he warned Dykxhoorn after the second bump.
There was a third bump and Hildebrandt, who insisted he was defending himself, pushed back. Dyxhoorn went “back, back, back,” and fell against the truck, then rolled onto the ground. Hildebrandt said he thought he was “embellishing and exaggerating for a purpose.”
He said he told Dyxhoorn, “I did not push you that hard,” before asking if he needed an ambulance and said if he needed help, he would be back at the church.
A few minutes later and still in shock about what happened, Hildebrandt said he and his uncle were at the end of the church driveway when Dykxhoorn drove up. Hildebrandt remembered Dykxhoorn saying, “I’m going to make your life miserable.”
Hildebrandt said he told Dykxhoorn he did nothing wrong.
In cross-examination, assistant Crown attorney Stephanie Venne reminded Hildebrandt not only was he more than 40 years younger than Dykxhoorn and Morgan, the larger Hilldebrandt stands six-foot-one, towering over the two five-foot-eight elderly men.
Justice Mark Poland will deliver his decision on Aug. 22.
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