World junior trial will generate ‘big conversations’ for years as closing submissions begin

The high-profile sexual assault trial of five members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team will generate “big conversations” for years to come, one advocate says, as closing submissions are set to begin.

The London, Ont., trial, which has seen two juries dismissed since it began in late April, has been proceeding by judge alone and was adjourned last Monday after defence lawyers rested their cases.

Closing submissions will begin Monday, and Crown prosecutors said they’d need a day for it. Defence lawyers said they would collaborate to avoid repetition during their submissions.

Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault stemming from what the Crown alleges was non-consensual group sex with a 20-year-old woman in McLeod’s London hotel room in June 2018.

McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.

Court has heard that the team was in London for events marking its gold-medal performance at that year’s championship, and the complainant, known as E.M. in court documents, was out with friends when they met at a downtown bar on June 18, 2018.

After being with McLeod and his teammates at the bar, E.M. would go on to have consensual sex with McLeod in his room in the early morning hours of June 19. Court has heard that E.M., who testified she was drunk and not of clear mind, was in the washroom after she had sex with McLeod and came out to a group of men in the room allegedly invited for a “3 way” by McLeod in a group chat.

It was then that the Crown alleges several sexual acts took place without E.M.’s consent.

The 27-year-old woman, whose identity is protected under a standard publication ban, was subject to intense cross-examination during her nearly two weeks on the stand.

Defence lawyers have suggested E.M. wasn’t as drunk as she has testified she was, wanted a “wild night” with the players and was “egging” them on to have sex with her, and accused her of having a “clear agenda” at the trial.

E.M. has pushed back against those claims and at points outright rejected them, saying she was coaxed into staying in the room, was disrespected and was taken advantage of by the group, who she said “could see I was out of my mind.”

Only Hart testified at the trial, while the other players’ lawyers cited evidence and police interviews that were already played out in court as part of the reasons why they weren’t calling evidence.

At the heart of the Crown’s case is the question of consent, and advocate Jennifer Dunn said that regardless of the verdict, the issues at the heart of the trial will generate “pretty big conversations” for years to come.

“What kind of conversations can we have to shift … what consent is or healthy relationships and that sort of thing?” Dunn, executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre, told Global News.

Throughout E.M.’s testimony, Dunn said the London Abused Women’s Centre had a presence in court, adding that the case draws attention to the need for a more victim-centred approach in the justice system.

But regardless of the outcome, Dunn said the trial is a powerful message for sexual assault complainants.

“We have a woman like E.M., who is willing to not only go through that, but then we have community coming together to support her to show other women that we’re not alone, that they’re not alone,” Dunn said.

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