Judge hears closing arguments in hockey sexual assault trial
Closing arguments have concluded in the trial of five Canadian ice hockey players accused of sexually assaulting a woman, with both sides offering competing stories on what had unfolded on the evening of the alleged assault.The accused men, all former players for Canada's world junior hockey team, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their fate now rests with a judge. Their lawyers argued that the woman consented to engaging in sexual acts with the players at a hotel room in London, Ontario, in 2018, while attending a hockey gala.The woman testified that she had consensual sex with one player that night, but did not agree to sexual acts with the others who had entered the hotel room.
The accused are Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton and Carter Hart. All were professional players with the National Hockey League (NHL) when the assault allegations emerged.The woman is known as EM due to a publication ban on her name. She was 20 years old at the time of the incident.She testified that she had met Mr McLeod at a bar in June 2018, where he and other players were celebrating after the gala. In her testimony, she told the court that she had agreed to go to Mr McLeod's hotel room and they had consensual sex.Crown lawyer Meaghan Cunningham argued that the woman was later put in a "highly stressful and unpredictable" situation after Mr McLeod invited other players by text message to the room for a "three-way". She feared for her safety, the lawyer said, and felt pressured to perform sexual acts to protect herself, including having sex with one player and oral sex with three others. Over days of testimony, EM said that she went on "auto-pilot" mode as the men demanded sex acts from her.Ms Cunningham referenced a video shot by Mr McLeod at the end of the night of the woman, where he can be heard asking her "You're OK with this, though, right?" and she responds: "I'm OK with this."She argued that the way the question is framed suggests EM had not agreed to what had just transpired. "I want to ask Your Honour to think carefully about those words and what they tell us about what was happening at that point in time," Ms Cunningham told Justice Maria Carroccia.Defence lawyers told the court a different story, focusing on her credibility and reliability as a witness. They argued it was EM who was the instigator and demanded sex acts from the men in the room. Defence lawyers also argued her actions that night made them believe she was consenting and zeroed in on one part of her testimony, where she said she had adopted a "porn star persona" as a coping mechanism during the incident. They said that the Crown had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the woman did not consent."This alone warrants an acquittal against all of these defendants," said lawyer Lisa Carnelos, who represented Mr Dubé.The closing arguments mark the end of the month-and-a-half long trial, which featured a declaration of a mistrial early on and the dismissal of the jury mid-way through.The verdict will be decided by Justice Carroccia alone. It is scheduled to be delivered on 24 July.
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