Prosecutors probe inconsistencies in teammate's testimony in Hockey Canada trial

New York Times

20-05-2025

LONDON, Ont. – Prosecutors in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial are challenging what they say are inconsistences in the testimony of Brett Howden, a member of the 2018 World Junior team.
Howden — who is now a member of the Las Vegas Golden Knights — was called as a Crown witness on Tuesday, appearing via a remote video feed from Las Vegas.
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Howden, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, repeatedly told Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham that he could not recall details from the evening of June 18 and early-morning hours of June 19, 2018 — despite being given the opportunity to review transcripts of past statements.
'I don't remember because it was seven years ago,' Howden said in one of many exchanges with Cunningham when pressed for details from the night in question.
Court ended early on Tuesday afternoon as Cunningham told Justice Maria Carroccia that the Crown will make a Canada Evidence Act application to allow her to cross-examine Howden on inconsistencies between his present testimony and his past statements.
'There are a number of areas that I wish to explore as part of this application. I think we are upwards of 15 at this point,' Cunningham said, before Howden was dismissed for the day. He will return to the witness box on Wednesday morning.
Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton and Cal Foote are facing sexual assault charges stemming from the alleged incident while players were in town for a Hockey Canada event celebrating their 2018 World Junior championship. All five players pleaded not guilty.
The trial took a turn last week when a second jury was dismissed after a juror accused two of the defense lawyers — Daniel Brown and Hilary Dudding, who represent Formenton — of inappropriate behavior. The trial has continued, with Carroccia hearing the remaining testimony and evidence.
The complainant in the case has testified that after a night of drinking and dancing at Jack's bar she went to a hotel with McLeod and engaged in consensual sex. Afterward, she said, men showed up in the hotel room without her consent and that she was scared. E.M., whose identity is protected by a publication ban, said that she was asked to lay down on a bedsheet on the floor, and did so because she felt she had no choice. Over the next couple of hours, she said she was coaxed into sexual acts, was laughed at, slapped and spit on. When she tried to leave, several times, E.M. says she was pressured by the men to remain.
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On Tuesday, Howden struggled to recall details from that night.
Multiple times, Cunningham asked Howden to refresh his memory by referring to past statements he made to police and during Hockey Canada investigations in 2018 and 2022. Cunningham also asked Howden to refer to a series of text messages he exchanged with Taylor Raddysh, who was his roommate at the hotel and was called as a Crown witness in the initial weeks of the trial.
Howden repeatedly told Cunningham that the transcripts did not refresh his memory.
The court has heard that Howden met E.M. and began dancing with her at the bar before introducing her to McLeod. When Howden was shown surveillance video of himself bringing McLeod to meet E.M, he said he could not recall anything about the interaction other than that he was 'taken' at the time.
McLeod and E.M. left the bar together and had consensual sex at the hotel, where members of the 2018 World Junior team were staying during the Hockey Canada gala and golf tournament.
Shortly after 2 a.m., McLeod texted a team group chat 'who wants to be in 3 way quick.' Howden said he did not see any messages on the group chat because he'd recently changed his phone number. He returned to the hotel with several other players shortly after 2:40 a.m.
Inside McLeod's hotel room, Howden said he was surprised to see the woman he'd met at the bar. He was just looking to hang out with his teammates and order food, he said.
Howden said he could not remember whether the woman was dressed or not. He described having casual conversations with his teammates until things 'started to escalate quickly.'
Howden said E.M. was acting flirty, but could not specifically recall what she said that made him think that. The woman taunted and 'chirped' the men in the room, Howden said, because they would not engage in her request for them to perform sexual acts with her.
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'I remember her calling guys pussies for not engaging with her,' he said. 'I remember her just not stopping when nobody was taking her up on it.'
The Crown says that McLeod, Hart and Dubé all obtained oral sex from E.M. without her consent, and that Formenton had vaginal sex with E.M. without her consent. The Crown has also told the jury that Dubé slapped E.M.'s naked buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with another person, and that Foote did the splits and grazed his genitals over her face as she laid on the ground.
Howden told the court that he saw E.M. lead Formenton into the bathroom, but could not recall specifics. He said that Formenton asked 'should I be doing this?' as he followed her to the bathroom, but didn't recall saying anything to him.
Howden said E.M. did not attempt to touch him.
Later, Cunningham asked Howden about a text exchange with Raddysh in which he mentioned Dubé smacking E.M. on the buttocks. After reviewing the texts, Howden said that he did not recall seeing the incident occur, but that he believed he heard the sound of it.
Howden said he could not remember whether the woman was clothed or unclothed, or what she was doing in the moment she was struck. He could not remember how she reacted afterward.
When Cunningham pressed Howden on how he felt when that happened, he said he couldn't recall.
'I just remember wanting to leave and get out of there. I just felt uncomfortable with the situation with her asking the guys to do all this stuff,' Howden said. 'It was just more so awkward than anything. I don't remember exactly when I left. I just remember it was just because I was uncomfortable.'
On the morning of June 19, Howden said that McLeod showed him a video he had taken of E.M. hours earlier, which has previously been shown in court, in which E.M. says 'it was all consensual.'
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Cunningham also asked Howden about phone conversations he had with both Dubé and Foote in which they told him not to discuss either of them with Hockey Canada investigators. In both cases, Howden said he only remembered being asked not to mention Dubé and Foote.
Tyler Steenbergen testified last week that he was also called by Dubé and Foote, both of whom asked him not to tell investigators what he saw them do because they wanted to explain to investigators themselves.
Cunningham later asked Howden about text messages the players exchanged several days after the incident when they learned Hockey Canada was launching an investigation. Howden tells the group that the woman started begging for sex and that no one would do it, but that eventually she gave three guys oral sex and that's when things started to 'get out of hand.'
'Nobody forced her to do anything,' Howden texted the group. 'If anything we should put an allegation on her.'
Cunningham pressed Howden to explain what he meant from that text.
'During all of this, I think there was some anger that was coming across, because in that situation I felt like she was the one initiating everything,' Howden said. 'She's the one that put us in that situation.'
(Photo by Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)