London police detective told accused in Hockey Canada trial he had no plans to charge him in 2018
The now-retired London police sergeant who lead the initial investigation into an alleged sexual assault by members of Canada's 2018 world junior hockey team began his interview with one of the accused players by saying that he did not believe he had grounds to lay charges for a sexual assault.
Retired police sergeant Stephen Newton was called as a Crown witness after the morning break on Tuesday at the players' criminal trial in a London, Ont.
Shortly after Mr. Newton entered the witness box, Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham told the court she would be playing video of Mr. Newton's interview with accused player Michael McLeod.
The interview was held in November, 2018. Mr. Newton began by saying: 'It was reported to me as a sexual assault, okay? And I just wanted to be clear to you, I've done some investigating to- to the best I could to this point and I don't feel I have identified the necessary grounds for charges of a sexual assault. I don't feel that I've gotten to a point that I, I know that a sexual assault, uh, technicality occurred, okay?'
He goes on to say that he has no plans to arrest or charge Mr. McLeod at this point.
Mr. McLeod is one of five members of the 2018 world junior team who are accused of sexually assaulting a woman at the Delta Armouries hotel in London, Ont. in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018. Court has heard that the complainant, who is known publicly as E.M., first spoke to Mr. Newton about the incident on June 22, and then again on June 26.
Mr. Newton, who is appearing in court remotely, told Ms. Cunningham that he made efforts to speak to members of the 2018 world junior roster right away, but he never tried to contact the players directly. Instead he reached out to Hockey Canada and then dealt with their lawyers.
In the 2018 interview, Mr. McLeod tells Mr. Newton about two short videos court has seen that were shot in the room on the night in question, in which E.M. says she is 'okay with this' and that everything is 'consensual.'
'I made sure I didn't get any of her, like – naked or anything. I just tried to get her face in it,' he said. 'I was kind of like worried something like this might happen so I took that first video. Just made sure that she was okay with it.'
Mr. McLeod went on to say it was a 'weird situation.' He then appears to say he wasn't 'expecting' all 'the guys' to come in the room, which seems to contradict evidence presented it court that Mr. McLeod invited his team to the room to engage in sexual activity.
Court only saw about 20 minutes of Mr. McLeod's interview video before the lunch break.
Text message Crown says is crucial to Hockey Canada sex-assault case ruled inadmissible
Tuesday also marked the end of former junior player Brett Howden's testimony. Mr. Howden, who currently plays in the NHL for the Vegas Golden Knights, spent six days testifying at the trial of his former world junior teammates. He is not accused of any wrongdoing but was in the hotel room on the night in question.
The NHL player's testimony was complicated by apparent memory issues. On Monday, defence lawyer Megan Savard, who is representing Mr. Hart, asked Mr. Howden whether injuries he has suffered in his professional hockey career could have impacted his memory. Specifically, Ms. Savard brought up a traumatic head injury Mr. Howden suffered in March, 2022, during an NHL game, in which she said he was rendered unconscious for about nine minutes on the ice.
'Have you noticed that since you suffered your head injury that you've had more trouble remembering things than you did before?' she asked.
Mr. Howden said it wasn't something he had thought much about before the trial: 'I've never really had to remember- try to remember so many little details like this before. And it's definitely gotten a lot harder over time.'
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