Defense attorney questions E.M. about calling players men during Hockey Canada trial
The fifth and final defense attorney in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial began her cross-examination Tuesday by accusing the complainant of having 'an agenda' for using the term 'men' to refer to the five hockey players accused of sexual assault and other members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior team.
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Throughout the trial, all five defense attorneys have referred to the accused, who were all at least 18 at the time of the alleged incident, as 'boys.' Julianna Greenspan, lawyer for Cal Foote, suggested that E.M. referring to the players as 'men' was an intentional choice. E.M. agreed, referencing their ages.
'I've been calling them men because that's what they were,' E.M. said.
Foote, Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Carter Hart are all facing sexual assault charges stemming from an alleged incident in which E.M. said she was sexually assaulted over the span of several hours in a London, Ont., hotel room while players were in town for a Hockey Canada event celebrating their 2018 World Juniors championship. All five players have pleaded not guilty.
E.M. has appeared in the witness box by CCTV since May 2.
She has testified that after a night of drinking and dancing at Jack's bar, she returned to the 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. 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 performing oral sex and vaginal sex, and was slapped and spit on while players yelled out directions and encouraged each other. She said the experience left her feeling degraded and humiliated.
On Tuesday, Greenspan brought up the first statement E.M. made to police in June 2018, in which she uses the word 'boy' to describe her interactions with the men she met at the bar that night. Greenspan emphasized that E.M. did not use the term 'man' in her statement in June 2018.
'Not one single time did you use the reference 'man' or 'men' in June 2018 to refer to these individuals, right?' Greenspan said.
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'That's right. That's not how I spoke back then,' E.M. replied. 'That was seven years ago.'
Greenspan again suggested that E.M. used the term boys in 2018 because it described 'who they were' and 'what they were.'
'Pretty obvious,' Greenspan said.
'Just because I used 'boys,' because that was the only way I could really articulate this and get this out to the officer, doesn't change the fact that their age made them men,' E.M. replied.
Greenspan continued to press the point.
'The reason you have so carefully changed your language is that you have come into this trial with a clear agenda,' Greenspan said. 'Isn't that right?'
'No, absolutely not. I'm older. I understand more,' E.M. said. 'They were men.'
Greenspan suggested that E.M. was likely aware of who the World Junior players were because she had family members who played and coached hockey at various levels. Greenspan also noted that the London Knights are a popular OHL team. The Knights play at Canada Life Place next door to the London Courthouse, and just a few blocks away from Jack's bar and the Delta hotel.
'I knew of the London Knights team … I couldn't tell you a single player on the team,' E.M. said, adding that she had never been to a Knights game at that point.
Greenspan said that in December 2018, the Canadian World Junior team played an exhibition game at the Knights arena, then known as Budweiser Garden. E.M. said she was not aware that the team played there. She has previously testified that she did not share her family's interest in hockey.
Greenspan continues her cross-examination of E.M. today.
— The Athletic's Dan Robson reported remotely from Toronto, and The Athletic's Kamila Hinkson reported remotely from Montreal. The Athletic's Katie Strang contributed additional reporting.
(Photo of Cal Foote arriving at the London, Ont., courthouse on May 8 with his lawyer Julianna Greenspan: Geoff Robins / The Canadian Press via AP)
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Hamilton Spectator
5 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
‘The whole night was weird, wasn't it?' Prosecution cross-examines ex-NHLer Carter Hart at Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
While Carter Hart has testified about being in a London, Ont., hotel room with a woman demanding to have sex with his teammates, the Crown suggested Friday that the players were determined 'to keep her there and do sexual things because it was fun for you guys.' It was Hart's second day in the witness box as the first accused player to testify in his own defence at the high-profile Hockey Canada sexual assault trial. He testified Thursday that after a night of drinking, he went to teammate Michael McLeod's room at the Delta Armouries hotel in response to a text about a three-way, only to find several of his teammates already there and a woman masturbating on a bedsheet on the floor, asking: 'Can somebody come f—- me?' The Crown completed its evidence at the Hockey Canada sex assault trial on Thursday morning. Here's what you need to know to catch up, starting The Crown completed its evidence at the Hockey Canada sex assault trial on Thursday morning. Here's what you need to know to catch up, starting Hart said in response to the woman's demand, he asked her 'for a blowie, meaning blowjob,' and she responded 'yeah' or 'sure,' crawled toward him, and helped pull down his pants. The oral sex lasted about 30 to 60 seconds. On Friday during cross-examination, Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham questioned whether he took any additional steps to confirm the woman's consent. 'I'm going to suggest that at no time in the room did you ever take her aside and say 'Are you sure you really want to be doing this?'' Cunningham said. 'Seconds later, your penis is in her mouth, and you don't follow up with any sort of 'Are you sure this is really OK? Are you down for this?'' He said he had no memory of doing that but also had no doubts that the woman was consenting. Hart, McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé, and Cal Foote, all former members of the 2018 Canadian world junior championship team, have pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the then-20-year-old woman in the early hours on June 19, 2018, in room 209. Her identity is covered by a standard publication ban. The woman had met McLeod at Jack's Bar and returned to his room where they had consensual sex, only for multiple men to come in afterward. While she didn't say no nor physically resist, she testified she only engaged in the sexual activity as a coping mechanism for being in a room full of men she didn't know. She testified she was crying at times and would try to leave, but the men would always coax her to stay. Hart completed his testimony on Friday. It remains to be seen whether Formenton, Dubé, and Foote will testify; they are not required to, as the burden of proving a criminal charge always remains with the Crown. Formenton's lawyers said they will confirm whether he's testifying Monday. McLeod's lawyers already indicated this week he will not be testifying. 'There were other guys in the room looking and I do remember making eye contact with somebody,' the former goalie said. 'There were other guys in the room looking and I do remember making eye contact with somebody,' the former goalie said. Cunningham put to Hart on Friday that the men took 'affirmative steps' to get the woman to stay and that Hart, in particular, went out of his way to make sure she would stay by texting teammate Dante Fabbro to come to the room, thinking he might want to have sex with her. (There's no indication that Fabbro ever came.) 'She kept asking for guys to have sex with her, and I knew that Dante was another single guy on the team,' Hart said. He said it felt to him that the woman was 'super excited to be there' and didn't want to leave, given how 'forward' she was being in her offers for sex. 'I'd never experienced or seen a girl act like that, I don't know the right word, I think maybe just forward and sexually demanding,' he testified. But why do you care whether this woman, a total stranger, gets what she's demanding, Cunningham asked Hart. A composite image of London police Det. Steve Newton's handwritten notes on the complainant's comments during a June 26, 2018, photo-identification interview. Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Carter Hart, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton are all on trial for sexual assault. (The officer's notes have been excerpted to fit in a single image.) 'I'm going to suggest you must have felt there was something in it for you to go and find another guy willing to have sex with her,' Cunningham said. 'I'm going to suggest it's because you wanted to keep the party going.' Hart repeated that the woman just kept demanding to have sex, even after leaving the hotel room's bathroom with Formenton, where they had intercourse. 'I'm going to suggest it's your understanding that if no one presents themselves, if no one steps up as tribute, say, she would leave, right?' Cunningham asked Hart. That was his understanding, but he said he wasn't sure how he felt at the time about the woman staying. Aside from the oral sex allegation against Hart, the Crown has also alleged that McLeod had intercourse with the woman a second time in the bathroom; Formenton separately had intercourse with her in the bathroom; McLeod and Dubé obtained oral sex; Dubé slapped her naked buttocks, and Foote did the splits over her body and his genitals 'grazed' her face. The complainant herself didn't identify Hart to the police, but other players testified they saw him receive oral sex. Cunningham put to Hart that until he arrived in the hotel room, there had been no prior discussion about what this 'mystery woman' might have wanted to do, and he really didn't know anything about her. All he knew was McLeod had sent a text to a players' group chat about coming to his room for a three-way, and he had also spoken briefly on the phone with McLeod, who said he had a woman in his room who wanted to have sex with some of his teammates. 'So you'd agree with me then that anything you knew about her willingness or interest in engaging in sexual activity, anything you knew about that before you arrived at the Delta hotel, came directly from Mr. McLeod?' Cunningham asked Hart. 'I'm going to suggest, Mr. Hart, you were putting a lot faith in your friend Mr. McLeod to set something up that was morally acceptable to you.' Hart agreed. He was open to the idea of going as he was a single 19-year-old man at the time hoping for a sexual encounter, who had also expressed an interest in the group chat to going to see 'rippers' — meaning strippers — prior to McLeod's 3-way text. But he maintained in his testimony he wasn't going to make up his mind until he was in the room and saw the woman. 'I hadn't met the woman yet, so I hadn't seen what she looked like or if she was OK with it,' he said Friday. A screenshot of a group chat involving members of Canada's 2018 world junior championship team. Hart had replied 'I'm in' in response to McLeod's text, but disagreed with Cunningham's suggestion that he knew the activity could actually involve more than three people. Cunningham also pointed to examples of Hart's 'faulty memory' of being in the room: he couldn't quite remember what McLeod was wearing when he first walked in or of McLeod getting food that players then ate, he couldn't remember if player Brett Howden was there — Howden has testified he was — and he couldn't remember McLeod recording videos of the complainant on his phone saying she was consenting while smiling . 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Cal Foote does the splits at Jack's Bar in London on the night of June 18-19, 2018, while teammates Brett Howden (on the far side of Foote, in white with a lighter-coloured backwards ball cap) and Dillon Dubé (in white on the near side of Foote) clear space on the dance floor. Hart, who played as a goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers prior to his arrest last year, also testified Thursday about seeing Foote doing the splits over the complainant's body while she was lying on the ground between the beds; he said he was sure Foote was clothed and his body did not make contact with the complainant's, who he said was laughing. He explained that the splits were a 'pretty cool thing' that Foote was able to do upon request; surveillance footage shows he did the splits on the dancefloor at Jack's earlier that night. Men in the hotel room were egging him on to do it again, Hart said. 'Like hey Footer, do the splits,' Hart said. 'That was just kind of a thing he did. 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New York Times
13 hours ago
- New York Times
Crown lawyer presses Carter Hart on players' efforts ‘keep her in the room'
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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. 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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. Advertisement 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. 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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)
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
One of accused hockey players tells sex assault trial about threesome invitation
LONDON — The invitation to take part in a threesome came in a text message, followed by a phone call, one of five hockey players accused of sexual assault testified Thursday. Carter Hart told a London, Ont., courthouse he was outside a bar with two other players in the early hours of June 19, 2018, when he saw the message teammate Michael McLeod sent to the national world junior hockey team's group chat, asking if anyone wanted to have a "three-way" and listing his hotel room number. Hart replied, "I'm in," assuming it was an invitation to take part in a threesome with a girl, though he planned to make the final decision once inside the room, he said. Soon after, as he walked with teammates Alex Formenton and Rob Thomas, Hart spoke to McLeod on the phone, he told the court. He couldn't remember the specifics of what McLeod said, but Hart said the gist was that "Mike was with a girl back at the hotel that wanted to have sex with some of the boys" – the boys being their teammates. It's possible the others heard the conversation, but Hart said he couldn't remember. Court had previously seen McLeod's text to the group chat but Hart's testimony marks the first time the trial has heard about a phone call between the players around that time. McLeod did not mention either in an interview he gave police in 2018, court has heard. Hart began testifying in his defence Thursday morning after prosecutors wrapped up their case. Hart, McLeod, Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, and McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault. Prosecutors allege McLeod, Hart and Dube obtained oral sex from the woman without her consent, and Dube slapped her buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with someone else. Foote is accused of doing the splits over the woman's face and grazing his genitals on it without her consent. Formenton is alleged to have had vaginal sex with the complainant inside the bathroom without her consent. The events at the heart of the trial took place as many members of the 2018 national world junior team were in town for a series of events celebrating their championship win. After a Hockey Canada gala, many on the team ended up at Jack's, a downtown bar where the complainant was drinking with co-workers, court has heard. The woman left the bar with McLeod and they had sex in his hotel room, an encounter that is not part of the trial, court heard. The woman testified she was surprised and scared when a number of men started coming into the room. She was drunk and naked, and didn't know what these men would do if she didn't go along with what they wanted, she said. She felt her mind shut down and engaged in sexual acts while on "autopilot," she said. The defence has suggested the woman participated actively in the sexual activity and at times taunted the players to engage in sexual acts with her. Hart testified he was "pretty drunk" by the time he got to the room and couldn't remember everything that happened or the exact order of the events, but his first memory of the complainant is seeing her laying naked on a sheet on the floor, masturbating. Several other players were in the room, he said. The woman then said something along the lines of, "can somebody come f--- me?" he said. Some of the guys looked at each other like they were wondering if it was real, he said. Hart was "pretty excited," he said. He was 19 and single at the time and "there was a naked girl in the room that was doing these things willingly," which he had never seen before, he said. He asked the woman for oral sex because he didn't want to have intercourse. She said something like "yeah" or "sure" and crawled toward him, then helped him pull down his pants, he said. The oral sex only lasted 30 to 60 seconds because Hart couldn't become fully erect and felt weird about the situation, he said. "There was other guys in the room looking. I do remember making eye contact with somebody and it was just, like, weird," he said. Hart told the court his sexual contact with the complainant was consensual and he didn't touch her body during the act. The woman repeated her offer of sex afterward and seemed annoyed no one was taking her up on it, Hart said. Many of the men in the room had girlfriends and didn't want to do anything with her, he said. At one point, Formenton and the woman walked over to the bathroom together, holding hands, he said. Hart said he couldn't remember how long they were in there. Court saw a text Hart sent to another teammate, Dante Fabbro, urging him to come to the hotel room. He said he sent it because Fabbro was also single. At another time, some of the men started telling Foote to do the splits, and Hart said he saw the other player do the splits over the complainant as she lay on the ground. Foote was wearing shorts and a shirt, and didn't touch the woman's body, he said. Hart and the guys thought it was funny, and he said he saw the woman laughing as well. Under cross-examination from Foote's lawyer, he agreed he didn't view the incident as sexual. Hart said he didn't see any sexual contact between the woman and Dube or McLeod, nor did he see anyone slap or spit on her at any point. A lawyer representing McLeod said Thursday he isn't calling any evidence. It is not yet known whether any of the other players will testify. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025. Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
