LONDON, Ont. 鈥 The high-profile trial of five professional hockey players accused of sexual assault will wrap up its first week on Friday, as the specific allegations against the players were made public.听
Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dub茅, Carter Hart and Cal Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a then-20-year-old woman in a room at the Delta Armouries hotel in the early morning of June 19, 2018. McLeod, who met the complainant at Jack’s Bar and returned to his hotel with her, has also pleaded not guilty to a second charge of being a party to a sexual assault. The complainant’s identity is covered by a standard publication ban.听
The players, who now range in age from 25 to 27, were members of Canada鈥檚 2018 world junior championship team, and were in London at the time of the alleged incident to attend the Hockey Canada Foundation鈥檚 annual Gala & Golf fundraising event and to receive their rings for winning the championship. All but Formenton were playing in the NHL at the time of their arrests in January 2024.听
A screenshot of a group chat involving members of Canada’s 2018 world junior championship team, including a text from Michael McLeod inviting his teammates to his hotel room for a three-way.听
Ontario Superior CourtThe trial is playing out in the London courthouse’s largest courtroom, where each player is seated at a separate table with their legal teams. The jury of nine women and five men has been told the trial is expected to last up to eight weeks.听
The proceedings have also been hit with delays; on Tuesday, the jury was sent home early due to malfunctioning video equipment partly caused by the stifling temperature in the courtroom, which has since been rectified. “It’s too hot in here, and the equipment isn鈥檛 working properly,” Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia told the jury.听
And then on Thursday, the trial didn’t sit at all after a juror called in sick.听
Here’s what the jury has learned in week one of the trial.听
The Crown outlined the specific allegations against the players听
In her opening statement to the jury on Monday, Crown attorney Heather Donkers alleged McLeod had vaginal intercourse with the complainant; Formenton engaged in intercourse as well, but in the hotel room bathroom; McLeod, Hart and Dub茅 obtained oral sex; Dub茅 slapped the complainant鈥檚 naked buttocks; and Foote did the 鈥渟plits鈥 over the woman while she lay on the ground, 鈥済razing his genitals over her face.鈥澨
All without her consent, the Crown alleges.
McLeod’s second charge relates to an allegation that he encouraged his teammates to engage in sexual acts with the complainant when he knew she wasn鈥檛 consenting.听
Michael McLeod inviting teammates to his room
Text messages entered into evidence show McLeod messaging his teammates in a group chat just after 2 a.m. on June 19, writing: “Who wants to be in 3 way quick,” and “209-mikey,” referring to his room number at the Delta hotel.听
Hart replied within minutes: “I’m in.”听
The Crown alleges up to 10 men filed into the standard-sized hotel room that night.听
Screenshot of a text message exchange between 2018 world junior championship team members Michael McLeod and Taylor Raddysh. McLeod鈥檚 text to Raddysh on June 19, 2018, about a 鈥済ummer鈥 referred to oral sex, Raddysh testified. Raddysh鈥檚 text to McLeod on June 26, 2018, referred to being told about an investigation into what happened in London by Hockey Canada official Shawn Bullock.听
Ontario Superior CourtMcLeod also texted team member Taylor Raddysh directly at 2:15 a.m., writing: “Come to my room if u want a gummer.” Raddysh testified that the word means oral sex, but said he doesn’t recall when he first saw that text and that he was only in McLeod’s room briefly.听
The complainant said on video that “it was all consensual”
Smiling and wrapping herself in a towel, the woman was recorded in the hotel room on McLeod’s phone around 4:26 a.m. on June 19 saying “it was all consensual,” about 20 minutes before she’s seen on camera leaving the hotel.听
鈥淎re you recording me? OK, good, it was all consensual,鈥 says the woman on the video, which was shown to the jury on Wednesday. 鈥淵ou are so paranoid, holy. I enjoyed it. It was fine. It was all consensual. I am so sober, that鈥檚 why I can鈥檛 do this right now.鈥
In a shorter video recorded at 3:25 a.m., a voice off-camera asks the woman if she’s “OK with this” and she replies: “I’m OK with this.”听
Both recordings were turned over to London police by McLeod in July 2018.听
The complainant is expected to say she felt she had to comply with what the players wanted听
Once the complainant takes the stand, she’s not expected to testify that she said no to any of the specific sexual acts, nor that she was physically resisting, Donkers said in her opening address.听
鈥淲e anticipate that you will hear (the complainant) testify that when she was in this hotel room, age 20, intoxicated, and a group of large men that she did not know were speaking to each other as if she was not there and then they started telling her to do certain things, she did not feel that she had a choice in the matter,鈥 said Donkers.听
鈥淥n occasion, she tried to leave the room but the men coaxed her into staying. And so, she found herself going through the motions, just trying to get through the night by doing and saying what she believed that they wanted.鈥澨
The Crown alleges the men took no steps to get the complainant’s “affirmative consent” to the sexual acts.听
鈥淚nstead, they just did what they wanted,鈥 Donkers said.听
Taylor Raddysh remembers almost nothing about that night听
Washington Capitals player Raddysh was beamed into the courtroom Wednesday via Zoom from Arlington, Va., where he testified he remembers almost nothing about the events of June 18-19, 2018. He said he briefly entered McLeod’s room where he saw McLeod, team member Boris Katchouk, and a woman, possibly on the bed.听
But in what position, whether she was wearing any clothes, and whether she said anything to him, Raddysh couldn’t say.听
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really have any recollection of what I saw in that room,鈥 Raddysh testified under questioning by Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham.听
