Sask. man who didn't want his daughter to get COVID-19 shots found guilty of abduction

The trial of a Carievale, Sask., man charged with abducting his daughter ended Friday with a jury finding him guilty.

Court heard Michael Gordon Jackson failed to return his seven-year-old daughter to the care of her mother, who had primary custody, after a long-weekend visit in November 2021.

Jackson, who represented himself at the trial in Regina Court of King's Bench, had told the jury his only intention was to prevent his daughter from getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Jackson said he believed the vaccine would harm his daughter and claimed the mother did not let him know her views on the vaccine for months.

The Crown argued that Jackson's goal of keeping his daughter unvaccinated meant that he purposely kept the girl away from her mother. The prosecutor also said there is no doubt Jackson made his concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine clear, but the girl's mother had the final say according to the custody agreement. 

After the mother told Jackson that she planned to get their daughter vaccinated, he decided to "take the law into his own hands" and keep her, the Crown said.

Justice Heather MacMillan-Brown told the jurors Friday morning that their job was not to determine whether the COVID-19 vaccine is dangerous.

"Your views on that question are not relevant for this case," MacMillan-Brown said. 

Instead, she said the 12-person jury must determine beyond a reasonable doubt whether Jackson purposely deprived the mother of possession of their daughter.

The jury began its deliberations Friday just after noon CST and reached a verdict less than three hours later.

"I would say that this was a very, very smooth trial in terms of how it unfolded," Crown prosecutor Zoey Kim-Zeggelaar told reporters outside Regina Court of King's Bench.

She said she is glad this was a case where the child was not hurt. There was no contention during the trial that the seven-year-old girl was in danger during her time away from her mother.

But Kim-Zeggelaar said this guilty verdict does give the mother and the now-10-year-old girl closure.

"[This] particularly affected the mother and the child. They've waited a long time for this outcome to happen, that we see accountability, and ultimately what I believe is a correct outcome. Because in the courts we seek a correct outcome … and I believe this was a correct outcome," Kim-Zeggelaar said. 

Jackson was released with conditions. His sentencing date is to be determined. Jackson did not comment on the jury's guilty verdict when asked by reporters.