Hockey Canada trial: NHLer recalls woman 'taunting' players in hotel room

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Editor’s note: This story contains words and descriptions of sexual activity some readers may find disturbing.

A member of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team testified he was “never worried” about the woman at the centre of the sexual assault trial involving five of his teammates, saying he believed the complainant “was into it” during sexual activity with some of the players.

Tyler Steenbergen made the comment Tuesday during re-examination of his testimony by assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers, who questioned him about what he recalled from the night of June 18 and early morning of June 19, 2018, at the Delta Armouries hotel, when the world championship team reunited in London for a Hockey Canada gala.

Michael McLeod, 27; Carter Hart, 26; Alex Formenton, 25; Dillon Dube, 26; and Cal Foote, 26, have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges related to events at the downtown hotel following a night of partying and drinking at a London bar. McLeod has pleaded not guilty to a second sexual assault count for being a party to the offence.

“What did you see or hear that makes you say that that was how it seemed (that she was into it)?” Donkers asked Steenbergen.

“Just how it all started,” he replied. “She was on the floor, masturbating and asking guys to come and f— her . . . it just made it seem like she was into it the whole time.

“I wasn’t worried about her in any way. It just seemed like she wanted to do stuff,” Steenbergen added.

Steenbergen, however, was less certain about other details of his testimony, admitting that some events suggested by the players’ defence teams were “possible,” but he couldn’t say for sure.

For example, Steenbergen last week agreed to a suggestion put forward to him by McLeod’s defence team that the player and the complainant, publicly known as E.M., could’ve had a conversation about her giving oral sex to McLeod.

“I think I said it was possible,” Steenbergen said. “Like I said, I wasn’t trying to pay attention.”

Do “you have an actual memory of a conversation about oral sex?” Donkers pressed him. “Do you recall any words that this woman used in offering oral sex?”

“I don’t,” said Steenbergen, who completed his testimony Tuesday.

Steenbergen was then followed by former teammate Brett Howden, who now plays for the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights and testified via video from Nevada.

Under questioning from assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham, Howden appeared to have a hard time remembering many details, saying, for example, he didn’t recall whether E.M., whose identity is protected by court order, was naked or clothed when he first saw her in the room.

Repeatedly throughout the day, Cunningham would ask questions to Howden, a witness for the Crown, and ask him to read past statements he gave to investigators hired by Hockey Canada as a way to “refresh his memory” to little avail.

“I see what I’m saying here, but it doesn’t bring back a memory,” Howden said in response to one of the prompts from the Crown.

At one point Howden testified he never actually saw Dube spank E.M., but couldn’t really say how he knew it was him who had spanked her.

The alleged inconsistencies between his testimony on Tuesday and past statements prompted Cunningham to take the rare step of asking the judge, Maria Carroccia, for some time to prepare an application under the Canada Evidence Act that would allow her to cross-examine Howden on such inconsistencies on Wednesday.

“It’s the Crown’s position that this is not the kind of memory loss that would bring itself within past recollection,” Cunningham said.

What Howden did remember Tuesday was the woman flirting with the players and then “chirping,” “taunting,” and “egging” the players for not engaging with her.

“I remember her calling guys p—-s,” Howden said. “I just remember everybody was pretty shocked. (We) couldn’t really believe that she was kind of being this . . . aggressive and also wanting all these things. Everybody was just kind of in disbelief or shocked that this was happening.”

Howden said he eventually saw Hart and McLeod receive oral sex from the woman.

“I don’t remember if it was long or not. I don’t remember anything like that,” he said. “But I also just remember not really looking, because it was kind of, well, it was uncomfortable. It was kind of awkward.”

Howden also testified seeing the complainant going into the bathroom with Formenton, who before entering asked some of the players, “Should I be doing this?”

“Everyone kind of just left it up to him,” Howden said. “No one was telling him not to do it, because it seemed like she was excited that she was taking him to the bathroom.”

The Crown has argued that the woman, then 20, went to the hotel with McLeod for consensual sex after meeting him at Jack’s Bar on Richmond Row. After the sex and unbeknownst to her, McLeod invited the men to the room for “a three-way.”

The complainant, who concluded her testimony at the trial last week after nine days, has maintained she was highly intoxicated and felt pressured to engage sexually with the players.

Defence counsel suggested the woman was the aggressor, and that she wanted McLeod to invite the other men to the room for “a wild night.”

The trial, which is proceeding by judge alone after a second jury was dismissed late last week, continues Wednesday morning.

jjuha@postmedia.com