LONDON, Ont.鈥擲miling and wrapping herself in a towel, the young woman looks into the camera and says: 鈥淚t was all consensual.鈥澨
At the high-profile trial of five professional hockey players accused of sexual assault, the jury on Wednesday viewed a brief cellphone video taken of the 20-year-old complainant in the hotel room after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by the players in the early hours of June 19, 2018.听
鈥淎re you recording me? OK, good, it was all consensual,鈥 says the woman on the video, whose identity is covered by a standard publication ban. 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
Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dub茅, Carter Hart, and Cal Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman in a room at the Delta Armouries hotel shared by McLeod and Formenton. The players 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. All but Formenton were playing in the NHL at the time of their arrests in 2024.听
The Crown alleges 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
At trial, the Crown intends to show that the complainant wasn鈥檛 actually consenting in the room, but rather complying as she was in an enclosed space surrounded by large men she didn鈥檛 know while she was drunk, naked, and separated from her friends at the bar.
Also Wednesday, jurors got a very brief glimpse into the hotel room from then-2018 junior championship team member and current Washington Capitals player Taylor Raddysh, who recalled being in the room briefly and seeing a woman, but not much else.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 really have any recollection of what I saw in that room,鈥 Raddysh testified under questioning by the prosecution.听
The jury was shown a text message McLeod sent to Raddysh around 2 a.m. on June 19 saying: 鈥淐ome to my room if u want a gummer.鈥 Raddysh told the jury the term meant oral sex, but said he did not remember seeing the text at the time 鈥 nor could he remember much about the events of that night.
From left to right, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dub茅 and Carter Hart are seen playing with their former NHL teams.听
THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Matt Slocum, Noah K. Murray, Matt Slocum, Paul Sancya, Corey SipkinThe complainant had met McLeod at a bar on the evening of June 18, 2018, and returned to his hotel room where they had sex. The Crown is only alleging that a second instance of sex between McLeod and the complainant was sexual assault. The jury on Wednesday saw a text message sent by McLeod to other members of the team about a 鈥3 way鈥 in his room, and Hart replying: 鈥淚鈥檓 in.鈥澨
The Crown has told the jury that up to 10 men filed into the room throughout the night.听
On Wednesday, the jury also viewed another brief clip of the complainant, taken in the room at about 3:25 a.m. She鈥檚 asked by a voice off-camera if she鈥檚 鈥淥K with this,鈥 and responds: 鈥淚鈥檓 OK with this.鈥
The slightly lengthier video was taken around 4:26 a.m., about 20 minutes before the complainant is seen on camera leaving the hotel, walking steadily in heels down the stairs and toward the exit, where she leaves in an Uber.听
Both videos were taken on McLeod鈥檚 phone and provided by him to the police in July 2018. The videos were entered as exhibits Wednesday during the testimony of London police Det. Tiffany Waque, who walked the jury through a number of other videos, including surveillance footage at Jack鈥檚 Bar where McLeod and the complainant first met and can be seen dancing together on a crowded dance floor before leaving the bar together just before 2 a.m.
Crown attorney Heather Donkers had given the jury a heads up about the hotel room videos in her opening statement on Monday, and urged them to listen closely to the complainant鈥檚 testimony about them once she takes the stand in the coming days.听
Donkers told the jury the complainant is not expected to testify that she ever said no to any of the specific sexual acts, nor did she physically resist. Witnesses are also expected to testify that she was asking people in the room to have sex with her.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, who is prosecuting the case with Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham, the chair of the Crown office鈥檚 sexual violence advisory group.听
Washington Capitals forward Taylor Raddysh, seen here in a game in Anaheim on March 11.
Kyusung Gong AP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
Raddysh appeared via Zoom in the London courtroom Wednesday from Arlington, Va., where he testified he recalled being in McLeod鈥檚 room for a 鈥渧ery short time鈥 after McLeod and fellow team member Boris Katchouk had come to his door. (He could not recall Wednesday what the men had said to him, but noted that he told London police in 2022 they said something like: 鈥淛ust come and hang out for a bit.鈥)
Once in McLeod鈥檚 room, he saw McLeod, Katchouk and a woman he said he believes was on the bed. But what position she was in, whether she was wearing clothes and whether she said anything to him, Raddysh said he could not recall.听
鈥淪itting here today, I don鈥檛 remember,鈥 Raddysh testified.听
During his questioning by Cunningham, Raddysh could be seen on camera looking down several times. Hart鈥檚 lawyer, Megan Savard, asked that he let the court know if and when he was looking at transcripts of his interviews given to investigations related to the case, as Savard noted the 鈥渙bvious poor quality of his memory.鈥
A few days after the alleged incident, on June 26, 2018, Raddysh sent McLeod two messages that were shown to the jury: 鈥淏ully just called me鈥 and 鈥渟aid there鈥檚 an investigation.鈥
Raddysh testified that 鈥淏ully鈥 likely referred to Hockey Canada official Shawn Bullock calling him about an investigation into what may have happened in London. He said he recalled calling his father about it, and sending messages to McLeod and team member Brett Howden, who was Raddysh鈥檚 roommate at the Delta Armouries.听
How did he feel about being told there was going to be an investigation, Cunningham asked Raddysh.听
鈥淚 don鈥檛 remember how I felt, to be exact,鈥 Raddysh testified.
