NHL
Hockey
Canada Trial
LONDON, Ont. – Carter Hart took the stand Thursday morning in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, beginning his testimony by detailing his version of events on the night and early-morning hours in question.
Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton and Cal Foote are each accused of sexual assault for a 2018 incident in which a 20-year-old woman said she was assaulted over the span of several hours in a London, Ont., hotel room while the players were in town to celebrate their 2018 Canadian World Juniors championship. All five players pleaded not guilty in the trial, which is now in its sixth week. Hart is the first of those five to take the stand.
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Hart’s attorney Megan Savard asked him about a night of drinking with his teammates at two bars that followed a Hockey Canada gala in London, Ont., on June 18, 2018, and his expectations for “romantic or sexual opportunities.”
“What were you hoping for?” Savard asked.
“I was open to sexual encounters,” Hart said. “A single guy, I was having a good time that weekend. I was open to it.”
Hart, who was testifying in person, said that after a night of drinking at multiple bars with teammates, he received a group chat text message and spoke to McLeod on the phone about coming back to McLeod’s room for a three-way.
Savard asked Hart why he responded “I’m in” to the text from McLeod, which was sent to a group chat with members of the Canadian world junior team.
“I kind of looked at it as an invitation, I assumed, that he was with a girl who wanted to have a threesome with another guy,” Hart said.
Hart said that after he received the text message from McLeod he also had a phone call with McLeod. He was with Formenton and Rob Thomas at the time, and said he assumed they probably heard the conversation but couldn’t remember.
“I don’t remember the exact details word for word,” Hart said. “But the gist of the conversation was that Mike was with a girl back at the hotel who wanted to have sex with some of the boys — ‘boys’ meaning some of my teammates.”
Hart’s testimony about the phone call was the first reference to McLeod and Hart’s direct communication about a potential sexual interaction. Hart said this was only his third time drinking alcohol and that he was very “buzzed” and excited about the prospect of engaging with a woman sexually.
He said his first memory of seeing the woman in the room was when she was lying naked on the floor atop the bedsheet. Hart said she was masturbating and, to him, appeared to be “aroused” by the players in the room watching her. He said she then asked players to have sex with her.
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Hart said he did not want to have vaginal intercourse with her but asked her “Can I get a blowie?” (“Blowie” is slang for oral sex.)
Hart said she pulled down his pants, khaki joggers with a drawstring, and performed oral sex with him for approximately 30-60 seconds. He said it didn’t last long because he could not get fully erect and found the experience “weird” with other people watching. He described making eye contact with another player as it was happening, which he also described as “weird.”
He said players were feeling a sense of “shock and awe” that E.M. was asking players to have sex with her and that many didn’t want to because they had girlfriends.
“I could not believe some of the things she was saying,” Hart said.
He said her demeanor changed to “annoyed” that players would not engage. Hart testified that he remembered seeing Formenton, who was single at the time, and E.M. go into the bathroom (he said she wasn’t “dragging but leading” him into the bathroom and described them holding hands).
Savard showed Hart a text message he sent to teammate Dante Fabbro, which read “Get to 209.” Hart estimated it was during the time that Formenton and E.M. were in the bathroom and that he sent it to Fabbro because he was one of the other guys on the team who was single.
Hart said he was in the room for approximately one hour. During that time frame, he said he did not see Dubé or McLeod engage with E.M. sexually or Dubé slap her on the buttocks (other players have testified to seeing both players receive oral sex from her and Dubé slapping her). He did say he witnessed Foote perform the splits over her while she was lying on her back but said he was fully clothed at the time and never made physical contact with her.
Hart said it was a “cool” thing Foote, “a big, tall dude,” would do occasionally, and had done so at the bar previously that weekend. Hart said that others in the room — he didn’t remember exactly who — encouraged Foote to do it.
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“I remember when he did it, guys thought it was pretty funny. I thought it was funny,” Hart said, adding that he saw E.M. “laughing as well.”
Foote is accused of doing the splits over her and grazing his genitals over her face.
Hart, who was wearing a maroon jacket, white shirt and dark blue tie, provided succinct, straightforward answers to questions from his lawyer during his testimony.
Later, during cross-examination, Hilary Dudding, an attorney for Formenton, asked Hart if he witnessed anything degrading happen to E.M. in the hotel room.
“Never, no,” Hart said.
“Is that something that would have stood out to you?” Dudding asked.
“If something like that happened, I would have stopped or I would have left,” he said. “I can’t see why I would have stayed in that room for so long.”
“Why is that?” Dudding said.
“If something disrespectful or degrading happened?” Hart said. “It’s not OK.”
Hart is expected to be cross-examined by Crown attorneys on Friday.
Prior to Hart taking the stand, the prosecution in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial told Justice Maria Carroccia Thursday morning that the Crown has called all of its witnesses and has concluded its case. The defense now has a chance to call witnesses.
The announcement followed an unexpected development late in Wednesday’s proceedings in which Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham told the court there was a possibility that the Crown would call an additional player witness. Cunningham asked for time to consider that possibility, which prompted one of the more tense exchanges of the trial as she and defense attorney Megan Savard sparred about what Cunningham characterized as the “late-breaking events.”
Savard protested that the defense had not been provided ample notice. Cunningham pushed back and read from an email in which the Crown notified the defense had been told he may be called as an additional witness. Carroccia ruled in the Crown’s favor, allowing Cunningham and assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers time to discuss whether to call the player as a witness.
The Athletic’s Dan Robson reported remotely from Toronto and The Athletic’s Kamila Hinkson reported remotely from Montreal.
(Photo of Carter Hart arriving at the courthouse with his attorney Megan Savard earlier in the trial by Geoff Robins / The Canadian Press via AP)
