N.B. doctor blamed for outbreak charged at Higgs’ request: lawyer

A lawyer representing a New Brunswick doctor accused of being patient zero in a deadly COVID-19 outbreak accuses the province of proceeding with a prosecution to politically protect Premier Blaine Higgs.

“The premier wanted to put blame on someone,” said defence lawyer Christian Michaud on behalf of Dr. Jean Robert Ngola.

“I have evidence in the file that shows that the laying of the charge was made at the request of the premier,” Michaud told National Post. “The premier has to be held accountable for what he does.”

Ngola is pleading not guilty to violating the provincial Emergency Measures Act by failing to self-isolate for 14 days after travelling out of the province.

His lawyers are fighting for more disclosure on the matter, including documentation from the Premier’s Office, public health agency, and the RCMP, before a trial scheduled for June.

That schedule means the prosecution will take place one year after an outbreak of COVID-19 raged in Campbellton, a city of 6,500 in northern New Brunswick. The outbreak came just as the province was reopening. There had been no new cases for more than two weeks, and no COVID deaths.

Unravelling that effort was frustrating and blame was quickly placed on Ngola, a family doctor of Congolese descent who worked at Campbellton Regional Hospital.

At a press conference at the time, Higgs blamed the outbreak on an “irresponsible” health-care worker. The RCMP said officers were investigating.

It set off something of a witch hunt.

A laboratory worker who saw that Ngola had tested positive for COVID-19 told her husband, who then identified the doctor on social media, Michaud said. Racism fanned the flames of outrage and the proverbial pitchforks came out. Racial abuse and threats were furious, he said.