Herbert Hildebrandt found guilty of assaulting 82-year-old man

Herbert Hildebrandt has been found guilty of one count of assaulting an octogenarian.

Justice Mark Poland made the ruling today in a St. Thomas, Ont. court against the 38-year-old son of Church of God pastor Henry Hildebrandt.

The case dates back to December of 2020 when Jack Dykxhoorn and friends placed a “Be Kind Wear a Mask” sign near the church in Aylmer, Ont.

The four octogenarians disagreed with the church’s views on masking during what Poland described as a “tense time in Aylmer.”

Hildebrandt then went across the street to the Thompson farm where they were having coffee and pushed Dykxhoorn to the ground.

“I conclude the Crown has proven beyond reasonable doubt, that Mr. Hildebrandt’s act of pushing Mr. Dykxhoorn was unreasonable and not a defensive push,” Poland told the court. “It was an expression of anger and reaction to a perceived insult brought on by Mr. Hildebrandt’s disproportionate reaction to the minor slight presented by placing the sign.”

Poland then referenced Hildebrandt’s claims of self defence, and his testimony that he did not have time to walk away from the senior citizens who approached him “rapidly.”

“Mr. Hildebrandt’s evidence that he could not have turned around and left as the interaction began to develop because he feared for his safety is simply ludicrous,” says Poland.

Poland did acknowledge that the four men, with a combined age of more than three centuries, put the sign there as an unnecessary act and it was inflammatory.

He said it threw fuel on a fire that was already burning in the east Elgin County community in 2020.

“At least one of the members at the Thompson Farm should have stepped up with a dose of common sense to stop this foolishness that was more suited to a schoolyard folly,” says Poland.

Poland concluded that Hildebrandt was never bumped by Dykxhoorn (as Herbert testified) and he posed no physical threat to the much larger and younger man.

With his defence lawyer Lakin Afolabi unable to attend in-person today due to illness, sentencing has been delayed.

It is also expected that Hildebrandt will now make a charter application contesting the trial took too long.

The next step is setting a date for sentencing which is scheduled for Aug. 30.