NHL
Hockey
Canada Trial
LONDON, Ont. — On a fifth straight day of combative cross-examination, E.M. — the complainant in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial — was challenged on her account of what transpired during a night of drinking and dancing at Jack’s bar in London, Ont., before she said she was sexually assaulted by members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior team.
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In a series of tense exchanges on Friday, Daniel Brown — attorney for Alex Formenton — showed the jury previously unseen surveillance video of the night of June 18, 2018. Frame by frame, Brown outlined how the footage contrasted with the timeline of events that E.M. shared with police in interviews days after the alleged incident.
“Your truth, it changes. That’s the problem,” Brown said during one exchange with E.M.
“My truth hasn’t changed,” E.M. replied.
Formenton, Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote are facing sexual assault charges stemming from the alleged incident while players were in town for a Hockey Canada event celebrating their 2018 World Junior championship. All five players pleaded not guilty to charges when arraigned in Ontario Superior Court.
E.M. has testified that after a night of drinking and dancing at Jack’s bar, she went to a 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 sexual acts, was laughed at, slapped and spit on. When she tried to leave, several times, E.M. says she was pressured by the men to remain.
On Friday, Brown questioned statements E.M. made to police in 2018, in which she said she only purchased a couple of drinks for herself that night.
Surveillance video showed E.M. buying and consuming drinks at the bar. She has previously testified that McLeod and others she met at the bar were buying her drinks throughout the night.
“It’s not on surveillance, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” E.M. said.
Brown also suggested that E.M. consumed less alcohol than she has claimed because of the smaller drink sizes served at Jack’s on the discounted “dollar-beer night.” He presented the jury with a small plastic shot glass obtained from Jack’s bar, used for “Jägerbombs,” which he said held only half an ounce of liquid.
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“If you thought you had up to eight Jägerbombs that night, what you’re really saying is you had the equivalent of four shots of alcohol, correct?” Brown said.
Brown later showed footage of another player, Brett Howden, dancing with E.M. near her friends for several minutes. Howden, who now plays for the Vegas Golden Knights, does not face any criminal charges.
Brown asked E.M. if she was attracted to Howden. She said she did not know who she was dancing with, and described being drunk and having blurry vision at the time. The clip showed them dancing closely, with Howden pressing his face close to her neck as they danced. They appeared to be holding hands.
The video then showed E.M. leaving the dancefloor with Howden. Another clip showed them move to a back bar, where E.M. remained and Howden left. Howden approached McLeod, in a clip from another camera, before they both returned to the bar where E.M. can be seen typing on her phone. It was close to midnight.
In her statement to police in June 2018, E.M. said that Howden passed her to McLeod on the dancefloor, and then they went to the bar where he bought her a drink. On the video, E.M. was shown purchasing a drink for McLeod.
When Brown asked E.M. why she was attracted to McLeod, noting that she’d said she had blurry vision at the time, E.M. said that she liked that he was taller than her, but couldn’t recall all the details.
“As long as it’s a tall guy, you’ll go home with him?” Brown asked.
“No, that’s not what I said,” she said.
Throughout Friday’s cross-examination, E.M. seemed to grow frustrated by Brown’s questioning of her account of the specific order of events.
“Sorry I got a few details wrong when I was really drunk,” she said.
Brown later revealed a Facebook Messenger conversation between E.M. and the friend she went to the bar with that night. The messages showed her friend’s attempts to locate her shortly after midnight — just after E.M. met McLeod.
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E.M. has testified that she did not recall texting anyone while she was at the bar.
In one text, E.M.’s friend — whom she had recently met at work — asks where she is: “Let me know if you want me to get u from the guy!!”
“Haha ok than youuu!! (sic),” E.M. replied. “I’m ok for now but i’ll let you know for sure”
“I’ll come back soon!”
E.M. said she didn’t recall the conversation because she was drunk and with McLeod.
Her friend sent her several messages and called once, but E.M. didn’t respond. Around 12:15 a.m., E.M.’s friends approached her on the dance floor and offered her a ride home, Brown said. She declined the ride and remained with McLeod.
Brown also showed a video of E.M. speaking with a bouncer — around 1:18 a.m. — whom she knew from high school, at the back of the bar, near an emergency exit, for several minutes. (She was also seen on video speaking with him earlier, shortly after she arrived at the bar.)
As they chatted, E.M. appeared to brace herself against a wall while they spoke, which E.M. noted was a sign of her intoxication.
At the same time, a cellphone video showed McLeod dancing with a group of his friends on the dance floor. Brown suggested that this showed that E.M. had the opportunity to leave McLeod.
By that point, E.M. said, she was OK leaving the bar with McLeod.
Brown also questioned E.M. as to why she hadn’t told police about the conversations at the bar with her friend, who might have been able to speak to her level of inebriation. He suggested she didn’t mention him because he would be unhelpful to her testimony that she was drunk and uncomfortable with the players at the bar.
E.M. said she didn’t recall speaking with the bouncer at the bar, because she was drunk. She also said when she spoke to police, she’d been focused on what happened after the bar, and her friend didn’t have any information about that. She said she was concerned about her privacy and didn’t want anyone she knew to be made aware of what had happened.
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The next messages between E.M. and her friend weren’t exchanged until 9 a.m. the next morning — June 19, 2018 — when her friend messaged E.M. to see if she made it home OK.
It seemed like E.M. was “having a blast with those guys,” her friend messaged.
“Haha ya they were funny,” E.M. responded.
Brown asked E.M. why she hadn’t told her friend what had allegedly happened at the hotel.
“What do you want me to say, something horrible just happened to me and I’m going to tell this kind-of-a-stranger what just went down?” E.M. said. “I was really embarrassed. I felt so much shame. I was just messaging her as if nothing was wrong. I was coping.”
“Shame and embarrassment at the choices you made,” Brown said, before signaling that he was done with his questions for the day.
“Thank you, your honor …” Brown started.
But E.M. interrupted forcefully.
“No, I’d like to finish,” she said. “I made the choice to dance with him and drink at the bar. I did not make the choice to have them do what they did back at the hotel.”
“We’ll get to that on Monday,” Brown said.
The cross-examination continues next week.
(E.M. depicted in a courtroom sketch during her on-screen testimony in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial: Alexandra Newbould / The Canadian Press via AP)
Dan Robson is a senior enterprise writer for The Athletic. He is an award-winning journalist and the bestselling author of several books. Previously, he was the head of features for The Athletic Canada and a senior writer at Sportsnet Magazine and Sportsnet.ca. Follow Dan on Twitter @RobsonDan
