Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.

On Monday, a defense lawyer in the Hockey Canada trial read excerpts from a text conversation between the complainant and her best friend, sent after the complainant alleges she was sexually assaulted by five members of the 2018 Canadian world junior team in a London, Ont. hotel room following a Hockey Canada gala in June 2018.

The players in question – former NHLers Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote – all pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault, with McLeod pleading not guilty to an additional charge of sexual assault as party to the offense.

During a cross-examination of the complainant, referred to in court documents as E.M. due to a publication ban on her identity, Dube’s lawyer, Lisa Carnelos, read portions of a text conversation from June 2018 between the complainant and her best friend.

The texts span from June 19 – the morning after the alleged sexual assault – to June 22, 2018. This friend is different from the co-worker who was at the bar with E.M. – their text conversation was examined last week.

The complainant’s friend initially messaged her to check in after she had received a call from E.M. just before 5:00 a.m. on June 19. In the call, the complainant cried while discussing the night's events as she left the Delta Armouries Hotel. 

E.M. eventually responded to her friend’s text but didn’t mention the alleged incident, just replying that she was fine and had been “a little overdramatic.”

Carnelos continued to read excerpts to the jury and E.M., who continues to testify from another room in the London, Ont., courthouse via video feed. The complainant eventually opened up to her friend more, saying that she felt “dirty and used” following the events in the hotel room. 

As more of the conversation was read, Carnelos asked the complainant why she didn’t initially tell her friend about the alleged sexual assault aspect of the night, suggesting that if she had felt she’d been “sexually violated or assaulted that night,” she would have informed her best friend right away. 

E.M. said she doesn’t “like to burden people with my own problems.” She also said she was trying to pretend it didn’t happen 

Carnelos continued to press E.M. that she would tell something like that to someone she considers a best friend.

“She was (her best friend), but I'd never had to tell her about something like this before,” E.M. said. “I didn't want to say those words (sexual assault) because then it would be true.”

Another portion of the texts showed E.M. and her friend discussing McLeod specifically.

“He seemed really chill at the bar. You couldn’t have known he was going to be such an a--hole, so you can’t blame yourself,” the friend texted E.M. on June 19. 

E.M. also messaged her friend, expressing her guilt over cheating on her boyfriend at the time, which was discussed earlier on in the cross-examination process.

As the text chain shifted to June 22, 2018, Carnelos read that E.M. mentioned to her friend that the men involved were hockey players. 

“The group of guys are all high-up hockey players,” E.M. texted to her friend. “Go figure. LMAO.”

Defense Shows Texts Between E.M. And Colleague From June 2018 At Hockey Canada Trial Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.

Earlier in Monday’s proceedings, Formenton’s lawyer, Daniel Brown, continued his cross-examination from where it left off on Friday.

Early in his Monday questioning, he pressed E.M. on her weight at the time of the alleged assault, pointing out that she previously said in court that she was 120 pounds in June 2018 but that her medical records from the time show she was 138 pounds. Brown suggested she changed this to further prove to the jury how much smaller she was than the men. E.M. denied this suggestion and said she rarely weighed herself. 

Brown’s primary focus, however, was on alleged events in the hotel room, suggesting the complainant had been “egging on” the players to perform sexual acts on her. 

“Do you remember saying, ‘Are you going to f--- me or play golf?’ ” Brown asked E.M.

The complainant said she had no recollection of saying that phrase, nor did it sound like something she would say.

Brown shifted to the complainant’s alleged sexual encounter with Formenton in the bathroom, suggesting it was she who led him to the bathroom.

E.M. denied this, saying he followed her as she was going to the bathroom herself. 

The lawyer finished his cross-examination by suggesting E.M. initially reported the incident to the police in the hopes that any pictures or videos of her from the night of the alleged sexual assault would be deleted from the men’s phones. E.M. denied this suggestion.

The defense’s cross-examination is expected to continue on Tuesday as Cal Foote’s lawyer, Julianna Greenspan, will begin her questioning of the complainant.