Crown that seeks to interrogate your own witness
Hello. My name is Mark Gollom and I am a senior reporter of CBC News. Today I will inform from the courtroom.
On Tuesday, the Court listened to Brett Howden, a NHL player for the Golden Knights of Las Vegas and former teammate of the accused.
Howden, who has not been accused of anything related to the case, was part of the celebration in Jack’s Bar and also ended up in the London Hotel room, Ontario, where the alleged sexual assault took place.
Howden testified that the plaintiff, known as EM, was the instigator of sexual activity in that room.
But the assistant lawyer of the crown, Meaghan Cunningham, informed the Court that he is submitting a request to Judge under Section 9 (2) of the Evidence Law of Canada to interrogate his witness.
Cunningham said he is doing this to deal with what he thinks are inconsistencies in Howden’s testimony, which is a crown witness.
She suggests that Howden’s testimony gave Tuesday does not match the statements he gave to lawyers who work on behalf of Canada Hockey to investigate the alleged assaults and the police.
Throughout the day, Cunningham asked Howden about certain incidents or details related to alleged assaults.
When Howden said he couldn’t remember those details, Cunningham asked him to refer to previous statements he had done in interviews with researchers.
Despite referring to those past statements, Howden often testified that he still couldn’t remember the details.
