Crown outlines case for new jury in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
It looked like a typical night at Jack’s Bar on Richmond Row with lots of young people drinking, dancing and having fun.
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It looked like a typical night at Jack’s Bar on Richmond Row with lots of young people drinking, dancing and having fun.
But what the Superior Court jury was asked to focus on in the security video shown at the trial of five former Team Canada world junior hockey champs was the woman with the ponytail in the grey tank top, blue jeans and black shoes. There was also the gaggle of young hockey players who cut through the line-up and entered the bar.
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Crown outlines case for new jury in Hockey Canada sexual assault trial Back to video
Monday, for the first time, the jury got to see the complainant, then 20, who the Crown said was sexually assaulted by the hockey players in a hotel room at the Delta Armouries hotel in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018.
Michael McLeod, 27, Alex Formenton, 25, Cal Foote, 26, Dillon Dube, 26, and Carter Hart, 26, all have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault. McLeod also pleaded not guilty to a second charge of sexual assault for being a party to the offence.
The allegations relate to a Hockey Canada gala held in London to celebrate the championship won earlier that year. After Justice Maria Carroccia gave the jury, which was picked Friday, preliminary instructions, assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers gave an overview of the Crown’s case.
The main issue in the case is legal consent. What the jury heard from Donkers is the woman, whose identity is protected by court order, met the players at Jack’s, had about eight drinks and went to the hotel with McLeod for consensual sex. That encounter is not part of the sexual assault allegations.
However, McLeod sent out a text to teammates asking if they wanted to join in a “three-way” while the woman was naked under the covers in his room. What followed is at the heart of the case, with all five having varying degrees of sexual activity with her.
At one point there were 10 men in the hotel room. Donkers told the jury some witnesses will say, at some part of the night, the woman was offering to perform sexual acts, while the witness is expected to say she was going along with what the men wanted because she didn’t know what would happen if she did anything else.
Donkers said the jury likely will hear the woman didn’t say “no” or physically resist specific acts, but she didn’t think she had any choice because she was outnumbered and intoxicated.
At the end of the night, Donkers said McLeod made two brief videos in which the woman made broad statements such as “it was all consensual.”
The Crown asked the jury to watch the videos closely and is expected to argue they are not evidence of consent related to the charges.
The video evidence from Jack’s Bar was introduced to the jury through the testimony of London police Det. Tiffany Waque. There were about 15 snippets of soundless footage taken from different camera angles in the establishment.
The jury was shown a diagram of Jack’s layout. In the videos, the jury was able to see the woman arrive at the bar’s front door with a friend at about 11:20 p.m. Another clip shows the pair at the bar buying shots and gulping them down.
Another file shows the woman and her friend in a photo that was posted on the bar’s social media page.
There was a clip from the dance floor with bodies moving to the music and the lights strobing, between 11:20 and 11:40 p.m. The complainant could be seen dancing with other friends behind a man and woman who were hugging and kissing.
The hockey team arrives between 11:20 and 11:40 p.m. and appears to be able to make their way to the front of the line waiting to get in. About 17 of them are caught on security footage walking up the stairs into the bar after their identification is checked.
Another clip shows the woman alone between 11:40 p.m. and midnight getting money from a bank machine near the pool table, then buying a drink at the bar and drinking it there. She also is seen talking to a bouncer near the bank machine. She leaves the frame and a few minutes later a member of the team is in the video.
The jury only heard evidence until early afternoon to allow time for them to vote in the federal election.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
