Crown lawyer presses Carter Hart on players' efforts ‘keep her in the room'
LONDON, Ont. – Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham grilled Carter Hart on Friday about the steps that he and others took to keep E.M., the complainant in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, in the hotel room during the early hours of June 19, 2018, suggesting the players wanted to 'keep the party going' because they were having 'fun' and found the situation 'exciting.'
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Hart is one of the five players accused of sexually assaulting E.M., who said she was degraded, humiliated, spit on and slapped while being pressured into performing sexual acts on players over the span of several hours in a London, Ont., hotel room while the players were in town to celebrate their 2018 Canadian World Juniors championship in June 2018. He is the first of the five players to take the stand for the defense.
Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton and Cal Foote are each accused of sexual assault. All five players pleaded not guilty in the trial, which is now in its sixth week.
Cunningham repeatedly honed in on the fact that Hart texted Dante Fabbro at 3:27 a.m., messaging him to 'Get to 209.' Hart had previously testified that E.M. repeatedly asked players to have sex with her, became annoyed when they did not and threatened to leave as a result. Hart previously testified that players were 'shocked' by how 'forward' she was being and described events that took place as 'weird' and 'awkward.'
If Hart wanted her to leave, Cunningham said, all he had to do was just let her go without saying or doing anything.
'But I'm gonna suggest that you and some of the other guys in the room actually take affirmative steps to keep her in the room,' she said.
'I don't think so,' Hart said. 'No.'
'Well, you just agreed that you were trying to get Dante Fabbro to come into the room to have sex with her so she'd stay,' Cunningham said.
Hart reiterated that E.M. was asking for guys to have sex with her.
'I knew that Dante was another single guy on the team,' he said. 'And the only guys that had gotten involved with her that night, I believe, were all single.'
Cunningham said that, even if Hart believed she wanted to have sex with them, he didn't have to go along with it.
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'You're not personally invested in seeing her get what she wants, right?' Cunningham asked.
Hart agreed.
'So I'm going to suggest that you must have felt like there was something in it for you, for you to go and find another guy willing to have sex with her,' Cunningham said.
When Hart couldn't recall what he felt, Cunningham continued to press him about why he cared about whether a woman who was a stranger to him wanted to have sex with other men — and why he took steps to get someone else into the room to have sex with her.
'I don't know why,' Hart said.
'I'm going to suggest to you that it's because you wanted to keep the party going,' Cunningham said.
'Maybe,' Hart replied.
'You wanted to keep her there, and doing sexual things, because it was fun for you guys,' Cunningham said.'
'Yeah,' Hart said. 'I mean, she kept asking for guys to come over and have sex with her multiple times throughout the night.'
Cunningham showed Hart one of two videos that were taken of E.M. that night, neither of which Hart said he remembered being filmed. She showed the video to Hart, which shows E.M. seated on the ground, smiling, and wiping her eyes (E.M. has testified she had no memory of either video being filmed). That video, filmed at 3:25 a.m., was then shown again. Before doing so, Cunningham asked Hart to listen to what is said in the background at the beginning of the video.
Cunningham then asks if he can hear someone say, 'I'll get Fabbs. I'll get Fabbs.' Hart said he did, and identified the voice as his own.
Cunningham then questioned Hart about why he would text Fabbro two minutes later telling him to come to the hotel room if he found the situation 'awkward' or 'weird,' as he has previously testified.
'So you wanted your friend Dante Fabbro to come in and experience the awkwardness?' Cunningham asked.
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Hart reiterated that Fabbro was single, and that he doesn't recall how he felt.
Cunningham suggested that the men in the room weren't uncomfortable — and didn't feel shock or horror — but rather acted like they 'couldn't believe their luck' to have 'a naked woman performing sex acts on anyone who wants them.'
'Yeah, I mean for myself, I was 19,' Hart agreed. 'I thought it was pretty cool.'
Prior to showing Hart the videos, Cunningham asked why someone would ever need to film videos — one in which E.M. answers she is 'OK' when asked and another in which she says it 'was all consensual' — if there was any doubt about whether what happened was consensual. Hart pushed back, saying that 'lots of professional athletes have done those things before.'
Throughout her cross-examination on Friday, Cunningham spent significant time exploring the gaps in Hart's memory, which she suggested comprised more than half of the time he was in the room; Hart has previously testified he spent approximately one hour in the room before leaving.
She also pointed out inconsistencies in his testimony and suggested that he was not being truthful about certain things he said he could not remember.
Cunningham suggested he remembered but chose not to name McLeod as someone that encouraged him to receive oral sex (he said he remembers other players saying 'You do it. You do it' but couldn't recall who said it), that he remembered but did not name which player he made eye contact with while receiving oral sex.
Cunningham also argued that the nature of Foote doing the splits over E.M. was an attempt at tea-bagging — dunking a person's genitals in someone's face or mouth — despite Hart's assertions that it was not inherently sexual in nature. Hart testified previously that Foote was fully clothed, did not make physical contact with E.M. and that E.M. was 'laughing' about it afterward.
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Cunningham also questioned whether he could reliably recall whether he acted in a way consistent with his testimony.
Hart testified on Thursday, saying he was excited and 'open' to the possibility of engaging in a 'three-way' with McLeod and recalled receiving oral sex from E.M. He said he would have stopped any 'disrespectful' or 'degrading' behavior had he witnessed it.
Hart said he didn't remember Dubé playing with a golf club or performing a fake putt near E.M. while she was on the ground, but conceded that 'it could have' caused him concern. Hart said he didn't know if he'd consider it disrespectful.
He also said he didn't recall Dubé slapping E.M. on the buttocks; others have testified about him doing so. Hart agreed that such an interaction also could have been disrespectful, if it hurt or 'if she was not OK with it.'
— The Athletic's Dan Robson contributed reporting remotely from Toronto.
(Courtroom sketch of Carter Hart on the witness stand by Alexandra Newbould / The Canadian Press via AP)
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