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Toronto Star

‘Autopilot': In graphic testimony, woman details alleged Hockey Canada sex assaults

Warning: This story contains details of alleged sexual assault. A young woman felt she was on 'autopilot' as she engaged in sexual activity with hockey players inside a London, Ont. hotel room in 2018, as they slapped and spat on her and asked if she could perform a sex act with a golf club, she told a jury Monday. It was the second day on the stand for the complainant in the sexual assault case of former 2018 world junior championship players Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, and Cal Foote. The woman, whose identity is covered by a standard publication ban, had told the jury Friday afternoon that she met McLeod at Jack's Bar the evening of June 18, 2018, when she was very drunk. The then-20-year-old woman agreed to go back to McLeod's room at the Delta Armouries hotel, where they had consensual sex, but then afterward noticed him on his phone. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Soon after, she said on Monday, other men were filing into the room while she was still naked. Someone placed a bedsheet on the floor and the woman was asked to lie on it and to touch herself, she testified. And then three men lined up so she could perform oral sex on them. Canada I was drunk and 'uncomfortable' at bar with Canada world juniors, woman testifies at sex assault trial 'I definitely feel like my inhibitions were lowered the more I drank,' the woman testified about 'They just start putting penises in my face,' she said, confirming under questioning by Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham that there had no prior discussion about oral sex. She said that other men in the room were egging each other on. 'I was being told to 'Suck it,' commands like that,' the woman said. 'They were also yelling to 'spit,' and 'spit on it,' and at that point I started feeling someone spitting on my back as well.' She described feeling as if her mind had separated from her body and 'floated to the top corner of the ceiling,' and that she was now just watching her body doing what the men wanted. 'I felt kind of like I was numb and on autopilot and going through the motions,' she testified Monday, 'watching it all happen and not feeling like I was able to control any of it.' She described feeling scared and intimidated, surrounded by a group of large men she did not know. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'In my mind, it wasn't what I wanted to be doing,' she testified. 'I felt like I didn't really have any other option. It was my body's way of reacting in that situation. It seemed like the only safe thing to do was to give them what they were wanting, and I think that was my body's way of just kind of protecting me from that situation.' Star Columnists Opinion Rosie DiManno: Guilty or not, the Hockey Canada sex assault trial is exposing a sordid culture A sense of puzzlement is hanging over the entire scene, Rosie DiManno writes. What would possess The players, who now range in age from 25 to 27, were in town for the Hockey Canada Foundation's annual Gala & Golf fundraising event and to receive their rings for winning the championship. The Crown has alleged that McLeod had vaginal intercourse with the complainant a second time; that Formenton did as well, but in the bathroom; that McLeod, Dube and Hart obtained oral sex from the complainant, and that Foote did the splits over the complainant's face and his genitals 'grazed' her face. The complainant, now 27, testified she noticed golf clubs in the room, and recalled men 'making comments about putting golf balls in me, in my vagina, and asking if I could take the whole club, put the whole golf club in me.' She said the comments made her very uncomfortable, but she just 'laughed it off' as she didn't know how else to react. The woman also testified about a man — she didn't identify who — suddenly doing the splits over her face while she was lying on the bedsheet on the floor. 'I didn't know that was about to happen,' she said, 'and he just put his penis right on my face in that moment.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW A pair of stills from videos showing the dance floor inside Jack's Bar in London, Ont., on the night of June 18-19, 2018, show the complainant with world junior team members Dillon Dubé, circled left, and Michael McLeod, right. Ontario Superior Court Exhibit She said the men were urging each other to have sex with the woman, and that she felt she had no choice but to go into the bathroom where she was followed by a man she later identified to police as Formenton, who was McLeod's roommate at the hotel that night. They had vaginal intercourse using a condom, she said. 'I just know I got up kind of expecting that this was just another thing I had to do, so I got up and he followed me to the bathroom,' she testified. 'I don't recall any conversation.' She said she cried a few times that night and tried to get dressed to leave, but the men would always coax her into staying. 'I heard someone say 'Oh, she's crying, don't let her go,'' the woman testified. 'And that's when they would approach me and just try to convince me that this is all fun, this is fine.' Her testimony continues Monday.