Warning: Contains details of sexual assault allegations.
A woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by professional hockey players in a London, Ont., hotel room was pushing for men to come into the room and demanding that they have sex with her, the defence charged at the players鈥 trial on Tuesday.
The then-20-year-old woman had returned with player Michael McLeod to his room at the Delta Armouries hotel in the early hours of June 19, 2018, where they had consensual sex. McLeod then texted his teammates on the 2018 Canadian world junior championship hockey team in a group chat just after 2 a.m. about a 鈥渢hree-way鈥 in his room, with the Crown alleging up to 10 men came in throughout the night.
McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dub茅, Carter Hart, and Cal Foote were ultimately charged with sexually assaulting the woman.听
On Tuesday, McLeod鈥檚 lawyer, David Humphrey, suggested during cross-examination that McLeod鈥檚 text was sent at the complainant鈥檚 request.听
Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham and the听complainant, testifying by video.
Alexandra Newbould/The Canadian Press鈥淚鈥檓 going to suggest you said something to him along the lines of, 鈥楪et some of those guys back here, I want to have a wild night,鈥欌 Humphrey put to the complainant during her third day of testimony.听
The complainant, now 27, denied that it was her idea, as she continued to maintain that she was very drunk from the alcohol she had consumed earlier in the evening and was in 鈥渁utopilot鈥 mode when engaging in sexual activity with the men.听
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see that having been a suggestion that came from my mouth,鈥 she testified via CCTV from a different room in the London courthouse.听
Once the hotel room was crowded with men, Humphrey suggested that the woman was saying to them: 鈥淐ome on, you鈥檝e got a girl here. Someone have sex with me. You guys are pussies.鈥澨
The woman testified she doesn鈥檛 recall making those comments, adding: 鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 even sound like how I would usually speak.鈥
McLeod, meanwhile, was checking in on the complainant throughout the night and making sure she was OK, his lawyer suggested. Although initially testifying she doesn鈥檛 recall McLeod doing that until the end of the night 鈥 when she was recorded on video saying, 鈥渋t was all consensual鈥 鈥 the complainant said she agreed with Humphrey鈥檚 suggestion that whenever McLeod would ask her, she would say she was fine.听
鈥淲hat else was I supposed to be saying at that point?鈥 the complainant testified. 鈥淚 had already been crying, I had already been trying to leave. That wasn鈥檛 working.鈥
The complainant, whose identity is covered by a standard publication ban, said she did recall someone in the room saying 鈥渢his girl鈥檚 f—-ing crazy,鈥 which Humphrey suggested was in response to her demands for sex.听
While she doesn鈥檛 recall making those demands, 鈥渕aybe that was what the comment was in relation to,鈥 the woman testified. 鈥淎gain, I just think that speaks to my level of intoxication and how out of my mind I was, and they knew that. They could see that. And they still did what they did.鈥
The complainant has told the jury that she met McLeod and some of his teammates at Jack鈥檚 Bar; the men were in London at the time for the Hockey Canada Foundation鈥檚 annual Gala & Golf fundraising event and to receive their rings for winning the championship. Humphrey suggested that part of what made McLeod attractive to the complainant was that he was 鈥渁n elite hockey player and he was loaded,鈥 which she denied.
Michael McLeod films a selfie video with the complainant on the dance floor inside Jack's Bar.
Ontario Superior Court exhibitAfter they had sex in his room, the complainant said she noticed McLeod on his phone and soon men she didn鈥檛 know began filing into the standard-sized hotel room while she was naked. Before long, the woman told the jury on Monday, she was being asked by other players to fondle herself on a bedsheet on the floor, to perform oral sex on them as she was slapped and spat on, and to engage in vaginal intercourse. One man, she said, did the splits over her head while she was on the ground, his penis touching her face. Men also made comments to her about putting golf balls in her vagina, asking if she could take a whole golf club, the woman testified.听
The Crown has alleged that McLeod had vaginal intercourse with the complainant a second time and that Formenton did as well, though on separate occasions that night; that McLeod, Dub茅 and Hart obtained oral sex from the complainant, and that it was Foote who did the splits over the complainant鈥檚 head and his genitals 鈥済razed鈥 her face.听
The woman has said she felt her mind separate from her body, and that her body was just engaging in the sexual activity in order to keep her safe in an intimidating environment. Despite two videos taken by McLeod of the complainant in the room saying the activity was consensual, the woman told the jury she was just saying what she thought the players wanted to hear.听
Humphrey pointed out that the first time the woman mentions being fearful or scared in the hotel room is in her statement of claim when she sued Hockey Canada and eight unnamed players in 2022; she never expressed those sentiments in her interviews with London police in 2018, in which she described feeling frustrated and annoyed.听
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 fully processed that fear鈥 in 2018, she testified. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 trying to think about it, I wasn鈥檛 wanting to admit I was scared and it was as bad as it was. I was trying to bury this.鈥
The complainant has repeatedly maintained that she was very intoxicated throughout the night and that it clouded her decision-making 鈥 鈥渆ssentially a central plank in the narrative you鈥檙e presenting,鈥 Humphrey said to her.听
He highlighted that she shows no visible signs of drunkenness on surveillance footage entered as evidence. At Jack鈥檚, Humphrey said, she can seen walking behind McLeod 鈥渞ock steady鈥 while looking at her phone, just before they head back to the hotel. And once at the Delta, the complainant 鈥渉as no difficulty skipping up鈥 the lobby stairs in her high heels behind McLeod, Humphrey pointed out.听
鈥淚t maybe affects people differently, the amount of alcohol,鈥 the complainant testified. 鈥淏ut I feel like I still had to focus really hard to get up those stairs. I know outwardly it looks fine, I鈥檓 not denying that.鈥
Credit: Ontario Superior Court exhibit
The surveillance footage from the Delta and the consent videos played a large role in London police鈥檚 decision not to lay charges in February 2019 when it first investigated the matter, Humphrey pointed out to the complainant on Monday. Det. Steve Newton, with the London police sexual abuse section, had doubts that the complainant was so drunk she was unable to consent, and felt he had no reasonable grounds to believe a crime had been committed.听
The complainant said she was disappointed with Newton鈥檚 findings.听
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think what he was seeing on the video footage really reflected my mental state and how I was feeling,鈥 she testified Monday, 鈥渂ut I understood where he was coming from and accepted that.鈥
Both the police investigation and a third-party probe by Hockey Canada were reopened in 2022 after TSN reported that the sports organization had settled the complainant鈥檚 $3.5-million lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. The five players now on trial were ultimately arrested in January 2024, when four of them were playing in the NHL.听
As part of the reopened Hockey Canada probe, the complainant provided a typed statement outlining her allegations, which she admitted in court Monday was actually prepared by her lawyers and she reviewed and signed it. She also admitted the statement wasn鈥檛 a completely accurate reporting of what she alleges happened, testifying that at the time the statement was prepared, she didn鈥檛 have access to transcripts of her police interview from 2018 to refresh her memory.听
鈥淚 felt there was a lot I was dealing with when this kind of blew up the way that it did, so I reviewed it, and the information in it is what I had said,鈥 she testified, 鈥渂ut I do believe some things are a little out of order in this. But I do stand by the sentiments that I鈥檝e expressed in this statement.鈥澨
For example, the statement doesn鈥檛 mention that the complainant was kissing McLeod at the bar, something she acknowledged after watching surveillance footage. And her statement incorrectly says that McLeod saw her slip and fall outside the Jack鈥檚 bathroom; the complainant maintained in her testimony that she did fall, but at a different point in the night when she was alone. 鈥淚 overlooked this error,鈥 she testified.听
A pair of stills from videos showing the dance floor inside Jack’s Bar in London, Ont., on the night of June 18-19, 2018, show the complainant with world junior team members Dillon Dub茅, circled left, and Michael McLeod, right.
Ontario Superior Court ExhibitHumphrey also suggested she was omitting details in her testimony; the woman testified under questioning by the Crown that once on the dance floor at Jack鈥檚, some of the players were moving her hand to touch their crotch areas. Humphrey confronted the complainant on Tuesday with footage from the dance floor in which she lowers herself to McLeod鈥檚 waist and touches his crotch without anyone moving her hand. She agreed that鈥檚 what was captured on camera, which Humphrey said is the only video evidence of her touching someone鈥檚 crotch.听
鈥淏ut what you鈥檝e been telling the jury is you鈥檝e been made to do that,鈥 Humphrey said. 鈥淵ou never told the jury that that was something you did all on your own.鈥澨
The woman鈥檚 cross-examination continues Wednesday.
