Hockey Canada trial: Fear, not consent, drove woman's actions, Crown says

National Post

2 days ago

The 'myth of the ideal victim,' the Crown says, is at the heart of the Team Canada 2018 world junior hockey sexual assault trial.
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And so is 'why some people feel that victims aren't treated fairly in the criminal justice system,' said Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham during her closing argument at the high-profile Superior Court trial.
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Cunningham, on the second day of her closing argument, took aim Thursday at the criticisms from the defence teams of five teammates from the gold medal team, that the 27-year-old woman presented herself during her nine days of evidence as someone with an agenda who ultimately can't be believed.
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'She can't win,' Cunningham said.
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'She's either too emotional – she's combative. If she's not emotional enough, she's rehearsed. If she refuses to agree with suggestions, she's combative and difficult. But if she does agree, she doesn't know her own mind. If she uses the same language at multiple points, it's contrived, but if she uses different language, she's inconsistent.'
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Cunningham said this strategy by the defence 'finds its roots … in this myth of the ideal victim, that there is a right way for someone to look or sound when they're describing sexual assault, that there's a correct way or a good way for a real victim to testify.'
She argued the complainant, whose identity is protected by a court order, has been consistent in her answers and urged Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia to find the woman forthright and truthful.
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The five players – Michael McLeod, 27, Carter Hart, 26, Dillon Dube, 26, Cal Foote, 26, and Alex Formenton, 25 – all members of the 2018 championship team who went on to professional careers, have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault . McLeod also has pleaded not guilty to a second sexual assault count for being a party to an offence.
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They were charged in early 2023 after London police reopened its investigation into what occurred in Room 209 of the Delta Armouries hotel in London on June 19, 2018, during a Hockey Canada gala and golf tournament.
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The woman, then 20, met McLeod at Jack's bar on Richmond Row and returned to the hotel with him for consensual sex. She testified she was drunk and was shocked, after the sexual encounter with McLeod, when several teammates assembled in his room, where she says she was sexually abused and assaulted without her consent.
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She said she was drunk and had a trauma response that caused her to separate her mind from her body to cope with the sexual demands of the players.
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The defence contends the woman was the aggressor who begged and taunted them for sexual activity. Some players took advantage of her offers.