London man found guilty for using a weapon at Wortley Pride drag storytime

A London, Ont., man charged with causing a disturbance and having a weapon at a Pride event two years ago has been found guilty of one of the charges. 

The incident involving Richard Sillers, 38, took place at a drag queen storytime gathering in Wortley Village in South London. He was charged in July 2022.

On Friday, a London court determined Sillers was guilty of possessing a weapon for danger to public peace. He faces sentencing next month.

In his decision, Justice Thomas Stinson referred to video evidence and said Sillers drove to the event at the Wortley Green and was consistently honking from his truck as he drove through. He then made a U-turn and continued shouting at people attending the event. 

The altercation quickly got heated as attendees started shouting back at Sillers, which led him to pull out a stick from his truck with a Canadian flag attached to it. While he didn't strike anyone with the object, he did raise his arm holding it, Stinson said. 

"Mr Sillers really doesn't like drag storytime, but sometimes when people act on strongly held beliefs, they can get themselves into trouble and that's what happened to him after an eventful afternoon in Wortley Village," Stinson said. 

Sillers was involved in three separate physical and verbal confrontations with people at the storytime, according to videos presented as part of the case.

Stinson said Sillers "lunged at a woman with the flag clearly swinging during the confrontation and a partially obstructed view is visible in video for a short time."

Sillers previously admitted to the act during trial because he was trying to disarm another person and prevent them from attacking his wife, but Stinson said he did not believe the actions met the bar for self-defence. 

The disturbance charge against Sillers was dropped because Stinson said he couldn't conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Sillers's shouting and continuously honking his horn was a form of public disturbance. 

Stinson acknowledged that Sillers's Charter right to counsel was breached because there was a 43-minute delay from the time he was detained by London police at 2:13 p.m. that day to when he was informed of his rights to a lawyer at 2:56 p.m.

However, the arresting officer said the delay was partially because Sillers asked not to be arrested in front of his young daughter, who was also with Sillers and his wife that day, the judge said. Police also never filed a report for the signs they seized from Sillers, Stinson added. 

Stinson did not believe this breach impacted Sillers's right to a fair trial, he said in his decision.