WARNING: This article can affect those who have experienced sexual violence or knowing someone who has been affected by him.
The woman at the center of the case against five former world players of Junior Hockey accused of sexual assault did not say “no” and was not physically restricted, but did not give their consent for what happened in a hotel room in June 2018, the crown said during the opening statements in London, Ontario, on Wednesday.
“This is a case about consent and equally important, this is a case about what is not consent,” said the assistant prosecutor Heather Donkers to 14 jurors.
The defendants are Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foot, Alex Formenton and Carter Hart, who started with NHL teams after Junior races that saw the 2018 Canadian team win the world title.
The five men are accused of a position of sexual aggression. McLeod faces an additional position, of being part of a crime, supposedly for his role in helping and encouraging his teammates to sexually participate with the plaintiff even though she did not consent, Donkers said. The five men declared themselves innocent.
The jury selection concluded on Tuesday, the same day that began in the Superior Court of London.
For the first time, on Wednesday, the jury, and the public, listened to a road map of the Crown’s case, which is expected to appear for approximately eight weeks with the presidency of Judge Maria Carroccia.
The woman, known as EM in the case because a prohibition of publication protects her identity, met the players in Jack’s Bar and Grill, a popular nightclub, on the night of June 18, 2018, and in the early hours of June 19, Donkers said. He was at the bar with friends, and the players went there after a gala celebrating his World Hockey Junior Hockey Medal Months before.
“In this trial, we will ask you to find each of the five defendants guilty of sexual aggression because they touched EM sexually without their voluntary agreement for each act when it took place,” said Donkers.
The jury members must set aside their preconceived ideas and judgments about what they believe constitutes sexual assault, he added.
The crown and defense have agreed several facts, including:
- Room 209 in the Delta Armories Hotel in London was recorded in McLeod and Formenton.
- The date in question is June 19, 2018.
- The Jack’s Bar and Delta Hotel surveillance video are authentic and admitted.
- Five videos of the Drake Batherson phone taken inside the Jack bar are authentic and admitted.
- McLeod gave the police two videos of his phone in 2019. The first was taken at 3:35 am and the second at 4:26 am
- In 2022, the police got five Snapchat videos in Jack’s Bar that night from McLeod’s phone.
Batherson is a right end with the Senators of Ottawa, who are now in a first round playoff series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
At the time the charges were announced, McLeod and Footo were with the New Jersey Devils, Dubé was with Calgary and Hart’s flames was with the Flyadelfia flyers. Formenton was signed by the Senators of Ottawa, but played in Switzerland. Foote and Hart are not currently in sport, but McLeod and Dubé have been playing with Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) teams. Formenton has indicated that he is working on construction in Barrie, Ontario.
Other members of the 2018 World Hockey World Equipment also played professional hockey.
On Wednesday, the judge reminded the jury that the accused is presumed innocent. They do not have to testify or prove their innocence. It is the crown that has to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that is guilty.
The fact that they were arrested and accused is not related to whether they are guilty or not, bodies said to the jury.
The reasonable doubt is based on reason and common sense, evidence and what evidence does and does not show, he said.
“It is not enough to believe that the defendants are probably guilty or probably guilty. If that is what you think, you have to find them not guilty.”
But it is also almost impossible to know something with absolute certainty.
“If at the end of this test you are sure that [the accused] He committed the crime, you should find it guilty. But if in the end he is not sure that he committed the crime, then he must find it not guilty. “
McLeod and Em left Jack’s Bar together that night and had sex agreed in their hotel room, said the crown. Then he started sending text messages to people, and the jury will see text messages that include a message that McLeod sent to a group chat asking “‘that wants to be in a rapid via. 209 -Mikey.
‘They simply did what they wanted’
According to the crown, Em will testify that “she felt drunk, surprised by what was happening and was not sure how to react”, lying on the naked bed as more men began to arrive. He went with what the men wanted because he was “drunk, uncomfortable and did not know what would happen if he did something else,” Donkers said.
Each of the five defendants had sex with EM “without their voluntary agreement on the specific acts that took place,” Donkers added.
The jury will also see videos of the McLeod phone that show them saying “all this was consensual”, but that does not meet the legal definition of consent, said the crown.
“The defendants did not take measures to ensure that there was an affirmative consent when they touched her. Instead, they simply did what they wanted,” Donkers said.
Em left the hotel room and called a friend, crying, before going home and crying in the shower, said Donkers. The police were contacted and told the jury that they would see text messages among the players trying to coordinate their stories for the investigators, as well as the text messages that asked them, to “make this disappear,” added the lawyer.
The jury was expected to listen to a detective who would begin to guide them through the surveillance video of the Jack bar that night, but a technical problem delayed the interpretation of the images.
After lunch, the jury was fired for the day due to an issue that arose during lunch that the judge had to think and discuss with the lawyers. The details of the matter that led to the procedures that ended early cannot be made public, since journalists cannot inform what happens in the absence of the jury.
The trial is expected to resume at 10 am et on Thursday.
If you are in immediate or fears for your safety or that of others around you, call 911. To obtain support in your area, you can search for local crisis and services through the Finish the database of the Canada Violence Association.
