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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- 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
Globe and Mail
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Globe and Mail
Hockey Canada sex-assault trial won't consider 2022 statements told to investigator
On Oct. 1, 2022, Michael McLeod walked a Hockey Canada investigator through his version of what happened on the night that he and some of his teammates are alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman at a downtown hotel in London, Ont., four years earlier. The investigator, a Toronto lawyer named Danielle Robitaille, asked him questions about when he first met the complainant – a woman known only as E.M. because of a publication ban – at a bar called Jack's. In Mr. McLeod's telling, E.M. was one of a number of girls hanging around the players on the dance floor. He told Ms. Robitaille they hit it off. He bought her a drink. She bought him one. 'This kept happening,' he said. At one point, they walked over to a sidebar, where a representative from Nike was buying 'Jägerbomb' drinks – a mix of red bull and Jägermeister. Mr. McLeod told Ms. Robitaille he saw E.M. take three Jägerbombs. Shortly after, they decided to go to the bathroom, but E.M. slipped and fell, getting covered in beer before she got back up, Mr. McLeod said. He told Ms. Robitaille he thinks she slipped because the floor was wet, not because she was drunk. The fall was a brief moment in the narrative of the night, but one that has become a point of contention at the players' criminal trial and an example of inconsistencies that have emerged in the case. Mr. McLeod denied seeing the woman fall when he first talked to police in 2018, according to the Crown, and several of the players' defence lawyers pressed E.M. during cross-examination about whether Mr. McLeod witnessed the fall. Mr. McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote are each accused of sexually assaulting E.M. in the hotel room. Mr. McLeod faces a second charge of being a party to sexual assault. The men have all pleaded not guilty and the trial is expected to continue in London for several more weeks. But the judge hearing the case, Justice Maria Carroccia, won't be able to consider Mr. McLeod's statement to Ms. Robitaille, which was ruled inadmissible during pre-trial motions. Nor will she have access to what two of the other accused players – Mr. Formenton and Mr. Dubé – told Ms. Robitaille or be able to see what the Crown has identified as inconsistencies between those statements and what the players told police. A different judge hearing pre-trial motions ruled that the way Ms. Robitaille and Hockey Canada obtained the players' statements – by threatening them with a lifetime ban and publicity if they didn't co-operate – was coercive and that allowing them into evidence would violate the players' fair trial rights. The judge noted Hockey Canada had told police it would waive solicitor-client privilege, and once the organization received a request from police to hand over its investigative file, Ms. Robitaille cancelled interviews in 2022 with Mr. Hart and Mr. Foote. In the fall of 2022, when Ms. Robitaille interviewed Mr. McLeod, Mr. Formenton and Mr. Dubé, Hockey Canada was under intense public scrutiny. Six months earlier, in the spring of 2022, Hockey Canada had settled a lawsuit with the complainant without the players' knowledge. Ms. Robitaille later said in a pre-trial hearing that she used the woman's statement of claim to challenge some of the players' previous assertions. 'That's when I obtained, in my view, more truthful versions from the players,' Ms. Robitaille said. Last Friday's decision by Justice Carroccia to dismiss the jury and proceed with the case against the five accused players by judge alone, lifts the publication ban on a trove of documents, including Ms. Robitaille's interviews with three of the accused. The notes from those interviews, contained in a 214-page document, are in most cases handwritten summaries, none of which have been tested in court. Lawyers representing these players declined to comment on their contents. Other apparent inconsistencies revealed in the documents include that Mr. Dubé told Ms. Robitaille that he slapped E.M.'s buttocks, though he did not mention this to police, the Crown told a pre-trial hearing last year. The Crown also argued in pre-trial hearings that the transcripts include several discrepancies between what Mr. Formenton told the investigator and what he told police. They also show that he returned for a second interview with Ms. Robitaille to correct information he told her. None of that information can come into the trial. Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham argued in a pre-trial hearing last fall that she should be able to use the Hockey Canada interviews to challenge what the players told police and what they could say at the trial if they choose to testify. 'This is really about whether the accused, if they choose to testify, should be able to say whatever they want on the stand with impunity, knowing they can't be confronted with what they said previously,' Ms. Cunningham said. 'The credibility and reliability of the accused, should they choose to testify, will be of central importance to this trial.' Ms. Cunningham seized on Mr. McLeod's varying accounts of the fall as an example of why the interview notes should be admitted. The handwritten notes from Mr. McLeod's interview with Ms. Robitaille show that Mr. McLeod acknowledged seeing E.M. stumble near the bar bathroom. The notes say he said that E.M. 'slipped, fell back' but that she only 'had three drinks, didn't seem drunk.' Ms. Cunningham asserted that Mr. McLeod left this out when police spoke to him years earlier. 'He denied seeing her fall,' said Ms. Cunningham. 'It was specifically put to him, and he said 'not that I saw.'' Earlier this month, E.M. testified at trial that she may have had 10 or more drinks that night. Mr. McLeod's lawyer, David Humphrey, was among several defence lawyers who questioned her about apparent inconsistencies between the various statements she had provided over the years about the fall. 'I'm going to suggest, Mikey was not there any time you fell,' Mr. Humphrey said. In the pre-trial hearing, Ms. Cunningham also argued that the trial should hear what she regarded as a key piece of evidence against Mr. Dubé. In Mr. Dubé's interview with Ms. Robitialle, he told Ms. Robitaille he 'slapped her (E.M.) on bum once or twice,' according to the interview notes. He also conceded that he 'maybe' touched E.M.'s bum with a golf club that he had been holding in the room that night. Ms. Cunningham told the court last fall: 'This is one of the acts that the Crown says would satisfy the elements of sexual assault.' E.M. has testified that she was scared when players began showing up at the hotel room and she felt she had no choice but to go along with what they were saying. She told the court that at one point, someone mused about putting golf balls and a golf club inside of her. Prosecutors also noted during pre-trial hearings that Mr. Formenton's interviews with Ms. Robitaille contained 'many material differences' in his accounts to authorities. For example Mr. Formenton appears to have given Hockey Canada two interviews four days apart where he gave different versions of the truth. Notes say that on Oct. 14, 2022, Ms. Robitaille asked him whether E.M. was slapped in the hotel room or hit with golf clubs. 'Didn't see anyone slap E.M.,' Mr. Formenton was noted as saying. No one was wielding golf clubs, he said. Mr. Formenton arranged to sit down again with Ms. Robitaille days later, saying that he wanted to correct the record. 'Dubé walked up and tapped her on the butt and walked away,' the notes say he told Ms. Robitaille this time. 'It was a tap but loud enough to hear.' Mr. Formenton said he saw Mr. Dubé hold a golf club and swing it toward E.M. when she was on all fours. 'I did not see contact with EM + club but saw Dubé held golf club in right hand and made putting practice motion and swing towards her butt.' The player said he had been overwhelmed and didn't want to throw Mr. Dubé under the bus, according to the interview notes. He acknowledged that Mr. Dubé had phoned him and asked him not to mention the golf club. When speaking to Ms. Robitaille the players each denied assaulting E.M. But the notes and transcripts from Ms. Robitaille's interviews also include other details not previously known about what the players have said happened that night. For example, Mr. Formenton said he noticed E.M. crying at the end of the night, but it was because she worried she wasn't pretty enough. Ms. Robitaille told Mr. McLeod, 'We're hearing that you were directing players to have sex with' E.M., which he denied. She asked Mr. Dubé whether Mr. McLeod had said 'you next.' Mr. Dubé's response is unclear from the notes. Court has also heard that a day after the alleged assault, Mr. McLeod found E.M. on Instagram, they exchanged numbers, and began texting. In those messages he pressured her to make the police investigation go away. 'You said you here having fun??' he wrote. 'I was ok with going home with you, it was everyone else afterwards that I wasn't expecting,' E.M. wrote back. 'I just felt like I was being made fun of and taken advantage of.' Ms. Robitaille asked Mr. McLeod about this exchange. She asked the player: if what you're saying is true – that E.M. is the one who asked him to invite his teammates to the room – why didn't he correct her in the text message? Why not say: 'it was your idea?' According to the note of the interview, Mr. McLeod told Ms. Robitaille that he was just trying to get it – the police investigation – to stop. He told the Hockey Canada investigator that E.M. hadn't been drunk and she was consenting.
Sydney Morning Herald
17-05-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
Terrell May once ate so much junk food he put on 25kg in two months. Last week, he didn't eat for three days
In the lead up to Wests Tigers' clash with Melbourne, Terrell May did not eat for three days. 'No one knows this, just the boys and the coaches, but I fasted for three days last week,' May says. 'There's heaps of benefits to a 72-hour fast. I just feel like I needed my body to reset. 'Just water, and I had black coffee here and there to stave off my hunger. I don't know if that's normal for people. 'Day two is the worst; you feel lazy and hungry, not focused. But once day three comes, it's like you're a new person. You actually feel more focused.' Not that the benefits were immediately apparent. 'Whatever the benefits,' May adds, referencing last weekend's 64-0 capitulation to the Storm, 'It didn't benefit me because we still got pumped.' May, who describes his current weight of 115kg as being a touch on the heavy side, has not always been so fastidious with his diet. During one of his sabbaticals from football, the Tigers prop put on 25 kilograms in two months, blowing out to 135kg. There was nothing high performance about his nutritional regime at the time. 'My breakfast would be a Macca's dinner box – like the breakfast one – and then for lunch I would have a Hungry Jack's box, and then in between that I would have like $50 worth of chocolates, lollies and chips,' he says. 'Then for dinner I'd eat whatever my family's eating.' Sometimes the Maccas family bundle wasn't enough on its own. 'Four burgers, four chips, four drinks, 20 nuggets,' he says. 'And then I'll get apple pie and sundaes, too. That was lunch. 'Breakfast was four McMuffins, four drinks, four orange juices, four hash browns.' Those burger-munching days are a thing of the past. May has embraced a lean, animal-based diet, free of seed oils and unnatural sugars. Instead of energy drinks, the 26-year-old turns to coconut water mixed with raw honey and Celtic salt. Never a big drinker, he recently marked four years without touching alcohol. 'I try to stay healthy because if I'm eating good and prepping my body for a long game, it's going to be the best outcome,' he says. Those lifestyle choices have had a profound effect. May has made a wildly successful transition from the Roosters to the Tigers, to the point where he is arguably the form prop in the NRL alongside Payne Haas. There have even been calls for May and Haas to be the starting front-rowers for NSW in the Origin series. 'It is one of my goals I have,' May says of the prospect of a Blues debut. 'You're not just playing for a team, you're playing for the whole state. 'I always dreamed of just playing one NRL game, but to be in the conversations, and seeing if I'm actually going to make it for my state, I feel like I'm playing for something more than just my family and myself. 'I feel like I'm playing for the whole state and whoever goes for the Blues.' Sitting second on the Dally M Medal leaderboard behind only Will Kennedy, May has made a compelling case for selection. He averages 172 metres and 40 tackles a game at an efficiency of 97.4 per cent. There isn't a prop in the game that comes close to his average game time of 72.7 minutes. A Blues debut would mean so much to the May family that father Jay, who has a fear of flying, is prepared to board a plane to attend the opening match at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium. 'Obviously it would mean a lot to me, but emotionally for my dad and my parents, they've worked so hard to just get their kids into the NRL and that was always a goal for them, for one of us to play in the State of Origin,' May says. 'And that's the only game that will probably make him cry, seeing me in that jersey.' There are other motivating factors behind May's stunning form surge. All his life, people have told the Mount Druitt product that he won't make it. At school, teachers predicted he wouldn't have a career in rugby league, and he didn't make the 30-man squad at Patrician Brothers' College Blacktown. Then there are the haters on social media, where May is active with his vlogs and gaming channel. 'I've had a bigger 'why' this year – to prove everyone wrong and to prove myself wrong, that I was better than what I am,' he says. 'I just feel like I have a lot to prove, not to just myself, but to all the people that doubted me before I went to the Tigers. 'All the people that were saying stuff about me, each week I go into it trying to prove those haters wrong, so it's been good.' And then there's the Roosters. For reasons that have never been properly articulated, the Tricolours chose to cut the Samoan international free. It's a decision that has provided even more motivation. 'They're another big reason why I want to play very good this year,' May says. 'Obviously a lot of stuff happened in the past, but that was one of my big motivations, to come in this year and prove to them, why would you let me go? 'But at the end of the day, I've moved forward and that was my motivation for a bit, but now my motivation is different.' Pushing himself to the limit is a recurring theme. In a bid to churn out marathon minutes, May ran a marathon in the off-season. With the help of friends, including footballing brothers Jake and Izack Tago, May completed the 42.2km he had marked out from his house in Mount Druitt to a track in Werrington. 'It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life,' he says of a journey that took five hours and 37 minutes. 'It took me a week to recover from that.' During next off-season, he plans to run an official marathon, with a goal of completing it in under four hours. 'I feel like in NRL or life in general is more mental than physical,' he says. 'I feel like whatever you put your mind to, you're gonna do it. Whenever I'm struggling or feel some type of way about stuff physically, I just always go back to my mental [toughness]. 'I just look at it as I should just be grateful. It hurts at the time, but at the end of the day, you're doing what you love.' Another driver is the ambition to play with his younger brother. Taylan May was sacked by the Panthers, but the winger is permitted to return to the NRL after domestic violence charges levelled against him were withdrawn. Loading Taylan has declared he is ready to return to the game after a stint in rehab. 'No one knew about what was going on with him, so it was a bit hard on the family and myself,' Terrell says. 'I just know he really wants to come back and play in the NRL. 'Obviously when you're playing with your brother, you're going to have more motivation, so hopefully he can come over [to the Tigers] and we can get the best out of him. 'He's still young, he's only 23, he's still got a lot to learn, and his body will get bigger, he'll get faster, stronger. 'Hopefully he'll come over and prove to everyone that he's still got it. We'll pray and see what happens.' We're all waiting to see what Terrell does next.
The Age
17-05-2025
- Health
- The Age
Terrell May once ate so much junk food he put on 25kg in two months. Last week, he didn't eat for three days
In the lead up to Wests Tigers' clash with Melbourne, Terrell May did not eat for three days. 'No one knows this, just the boys and the coaches, but I fasted for three days last week,' May says. 'There's heaps of benefits to a 72-hour fast. I just feel like I needed my body to reset. 'Just water, and I had black coffee here and there to stave off my hunger. I don't know if that's normal for people. 'Day two is the worst; you feel lazy and hungry, not focused. But once day three comes, it's like you're a new person. You actually feel more focused.' Not that the benefits were immediately apparent. 'Whatever the benefits,' May adds, referencing last weekend's 64-0 capitulation to the Storm, 'It didn't benefit me because we still got pumped.' May, who describes his current weight of 115kg as being a touch on the heavy side, has not always been so fastidious with his diet. During one of his sabbaticals from football, the Tigers prop put on 25 kilograms in two months, blowing out to 135kg. There was nothing high performance about his nutritional regime at the time. 'My breakfast would be a Macca's dinner box – like the breakfast one – and then for lunch I would have a Hungry Jack's box, and then in between that I would have like $50 worth of chocolates, lollies and chips,' he says. 'Then for dinner I'd eat whatever my family's eating.' Sometimes the Maccas family bundle wasn't enough on its own. 'Four burgers, four chips, four drinks, 20 nuggets,' he says. 'And then I'll get apple pie and sundaes, too. That was lunch. 'Breakfast was four McMuffins, four drinks, four orange juices, four hash browns.' Those burger-munching days are a thing of the past. May has embraced a lean, animal-based diet, free of seed oils and unnatural sugars. Instead of energy drinks, the 26-year-old turns to coconut water mixed with raw honey and Celtic salt. Never a big drinker, he recently marked four years without touching alcohol. 'I try to stay healthy because if I'm eating good and prepping my body for a long game, it's going to be the best outcome,' he says. Those lifestyle choices have had a profound effect. May has made a wildly successful transition from the Roosters to the Tigers, to the point where he is arguably the form prop in the NRL alongside Payne Haas. There have even been calls for May and Haas to be the starting front-rowers for NSW in the Origin series. 'It is one of my goals I have,' May says of the prospect of a Blues debut. 'You're not just playing for a team, you're playing for the whole state. 'I always dreamed of just playing one NRL game, but to be in the conversations, and seeing if I'm actually going to make it for my state, I feel like I'm playing for something more than just my family and myself. 'I feel like I'm playing for the whole state and whoever goes for the Blues.' Sitting second on the Dally M Medal leaderboard behind only Will Kennedy, May has made a compelling case for selection. He averages 172 metres and 40 tackles a game at an efficiency of 97.4 per cent. There isn't a prop in the game that comes close to his average game time of 72.7 minutes. A Blues debut would mean so much to the May family that father Jay, who has a fear of flying, is prepared to board a plane to attend the opening match at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium. 'Obviously it would mean a lot to me, but emotionally for my dad and my parents, they've worked so hard to just get their kids into the NRL and that was always a goal for them, for one of us to play in the State of Origin,' May says. 'And that's the only game that will probably make him cry, seeing me in that jersey.' There are other motivating factors behind May's stunning form surge. All his life, people have told the Mount Druitt product that he won't make it. At school, teachers predicted he wouldn't have a career in rugby league, and he didn't make the 30-man squad at Patrician Brothers' College Blacktown. Then there are the haters on social media, where May is active with his vlogs and gaming channel. 'I've had a bigger 'why' this year – to prove everyone wrong and to prove myself wrong, that I was better than what I am,' he says. 'I just feel like I have a lot to prove, not to just myself, but to all the people that doubted me before I went to the Tigers. 'All the people that were saying stuff about me, each week I go into it trying to prove those haters wrong, so it's been good.' And then there's the Roosters. For reasons that have never been properly articulated, the Tricolours chose to cut the Samoan international free. It's a decision that has provided even more motivation. 'They're another big reason why I want to play very good this year,' May says. 'Obviously a lot of stuff happened in the past, but that was one of my big motivations, to come in this year and prove to them, why would you let me go? 'But at the end of the day, I've moved forward and that was my motivation for a bit, but now my motivation is different.' Pushing himself to the limit is a recurring theme. In a bid to churn out marathon minutes, May ran a marathon in the off-season. With the help of friends, including footballing brothers Jake and Izack Tago, May completed the 42.2km he had marked out from his house in Mount Druitt to a track in Werrington. 'It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life,' he says of a journey that took five hours and 37 minutes. 'It took me a week to recover from that.' During next off-season, he plans to run an official marathon, with a goal of completing it in under four hours. 'I feel like in NRL or life in general is more mental than physical,' he says. 'I feel like whatever you put your mind to, you're gonna do it. Whenever I'm struggling or feel some type of way about stuff physically, I just always go back to my mental [toughness]. 'I just look at it as I should just be grateful. It hurts at the time, but at the end of the day, you're doing what you love.' Another driver is the ambition to play with his younger brother. Taylan May was sacked by the Panthers, but the winger is permitted to return to the NRL after domestic violence charges levelled against him were withdrawn. Loading Taylan has declared he is ready to return to the game after a stint in rehab. 'No one knew about what was going on with him, so it was a bit hard on the family and myself,' Terrell says. 'I just know he really wants to come back and play in the NRL. 'Obviously when you're playing with your brother, you're going to have more motivation, so hopefully he can come over [to the Tigers] and we can get the best out of him. 'He's still young, he's only 23, he's still got a lot to learn, and his body will get bigger, he'll get faster, stronger. 'Hopefully he'll come over and prove to everyone that he's still got it. We'll pray and see what happens.' We're all waiting to see what Terrell does next.
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
In first appearance at Hockey Canada trial, E.M. describes drunkenness and discomfort
LONDON, Ont. — The woman at the center of the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial recounted a 'chaotic' night of drinking and dancing, in which she said she felt 'claustrophobic,' 'surrounded' and 'uncomfortable.' It was the first time the jury saw or heard from the complainant who said she was sexually assaulted by multiple players in a London, Ont., hotel room in June 2018. The players and other members of the 2018 Canadian World Juniors team were in town for a Hockey Canada event celebrating their championship run. Her testimony on Friday centered around the events leading up to the alleged incident and gave jurors insight into her state of mind in the hours before. Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé and Cal Foote are all facing sexual assault charges stemming from the alleged incident. All five players pleaded not guilty to charges last week. Advertisement Those five players encountered almost two dozen protestors gathered near the entrance of the courthouse, holding up signs and chanting 'Break the silence! Stop the violence!' as they and their legal teams entered the building Friday morning. Testifying via closed-circuit television from a different room within the courthouse, E.M. — whose name is protected by a publication ban — recalled being nervous about hanging out with new friends on June 18, 2018. She said she was hesitant to go out but reluctant to turn down an invitation from her co-workers because it felt like a potential opportunity to get to know them better. She drank two Mike's Hard Lemonades as she got ready after work, which helped her feel a bit more relaxed, she said. When she arrived at Jack's Bar — a popular drinking establishment on Richmond Street — she had four shots in a short time, trying to calm her nerves. It was the beginning of a night of drinking that, she said, lowered her inhibitions, left her off balance and with blurry vision. She described a chaotic scene, with loud music and a packed dance floor. 'I was becoming less aware of my surroundings, my vision was a little blurry,' she said. 'Mentally, I felt all over the place.' In recalling that night, E.M. appeared nervous, admitting as much as she apologized several times when asking to have surveillance footage played back. As Crown Attorney Meaghan Cunningham questioned her about that night, she described being approached on the dance floor by a young man. After they danced for a little bit, he brought her over to meet another guy. His name was Mikey, she said. E.M. later identified him as McLeod. After taking several shots with 'Mikey,' she said she was already quite drunk. E.M. said that over the course of the night at Jack's she had eight shots, one mixed drink and one beer. Advertisement 'Mikey' was part of a group that she noticed seemed to stay together wherever they went, from the dance floor to the bar. 'They seemed close. They were really dancing together all in a group on the dance floor or going back to the bar together, getting shots and drinks,' she said. 'They were moving as a group.' At the bar, an older man — whom she believed to be in his late 30s — seemed to buy drinks for the group, and poured a shot into her mouth, she said. The man acted as 'wingman' for McLeod, she said. She recalled the man telling her that McLeod was a 'really good guy' and that she should 'take care of him.' On the dance floor, E.M. said she danced with McLeod, while the group of young men surrounded her. She described their actions as 'odd' and not something she was used to experiencing in a bar. 'I felt uncomfortable. They kept taking turns dancing with me. Everyone was really close together. I was feeling very sandwiched in,' she said. 'Just a lot of passing back and forth, I don't even think I was even aware at some point who I was dancing with. … They circled all around me and I was in the center of that.' It felt odd, she said, that 'Mikey' seemed OK with the other guys grabbing at her and pulling her away to dance with them. One would pick her up. And then others would push into her from both sides. There was a lot of uncomfortable touching. They grabbed her hand and tried to move it to their crotches, she said. In one clip, one of the men pulls on her ponytail. In another part of the video, a man picked her off the ground, lifting her up around his waist. At a different part of the clip, another man smacks her on the buttocks. E.M. told Cunningham that she could not recall any of those incidents. In a video taken from McLeod's phone, E.M. saw herself smiling, eyes closed inside a circle of the young men. She was very intoxicated, she said, and didn't realize the video was being taken. Watching another video, which featured a crush of dancing bodies and strobing lights, she identified herself and recalled what she was feeling at the time: 'It just felt very claustrophobic.' Advertisement She and McLeod kissed at the bar, she said. She said he mentioned he wanted to take her home and that he 'couldn't wait to have fun with me.' Initially, she said she was attracted to him. But as the night went on and she became more inebriated, she felt the need to 'regroup' in the bathroom. She hoped going to the bathroom might give her a way out of telling him no. She said she felt that because of their interactions for much of the night, he assumed they'd be going home together. 'In general, I'm just someone who has a bit of a hard time saying no and I don't like upsetting others and then when I'm drunk I think that kind of really shows,' she said. She said she felt OK going home with him, but said she wouldn't have done so if she hadn't been drunk. 'I thought it was maybe easier to kind of go along with that than to say no,' she said. E.M.'s testimony for the day ended with her and McLeod arriving at the Delta hotel. Prior to E.M.'s testimony, Boris Katchouk — a member of the 2018 Canadian World Juniors team who now plays for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League — told jurors that he arrived to the Delta Armouries hotel shortly after 2:20 a.m. on June 19, 2018. He was heavily inebriated, he said, because he'd celebrated his birthday and the team's gold medal. Katchouk said he saw McLeod standing outside his room on the second floor, and he invited him in. Once there, McLeod asked Katchouk if he wanted a 'gummer' ('gummer' is slang for oral sex.) The 26-year-old Katchouk said that he saw a woman on the bed, underneath the covers. Cunningham asked Katchouk who else was in the room when McLeod asked him if he wanted oral sex. 'It was just me and Mikey,' Katchouk said. 'She was there on the bed as well, sorry.' Asked about his reaction to McLeod's question, Katchouk told Cunningham he had a girlfriend at the time, so 'there was nothing for me to really think about it.' He said he couldn't recall if the woman made any kind of reaction when McLeod made the comment. Advertisement 'I believe I just laughed and didn't really talk about it after that,' he said. McLeod left the room and a short time passed before he returned with Taylor Raddysh (another member of the 2018 team who was staying in the next room), Katchouk said. Katchouk testified that the three teammates spoke briefly in the room, before Raddysh said, 'Bo let's get out of here.' And then they left, Katchouk said. Raddysh, who now plays for the Washington Capitals, also testified remotely. Raddysh said he was only in the hotel room for a few minutes and didn't know whether the woman he saw on the bed, under the covers, was clothed or not; he said he only observed her trapezius muscles. The 27-year-old Raddysh answered questions by relying on a transcript of a July 2018 statement he made to investigators regarding the events from that weekend, and said that at one point during the early-morning hours of June 19, 2018, he heard 'talking,' 'chattering,' 'hooting' and 'hollering' from the room next door to his, which was McLeod's hotel room. (Courtroom sketch of defendants and Justice Maria Carroccia early in the trial / Alexandra Newbould / The Canadian Press via AP)
