The Hockey Canada sexual assault trial is taking place at Ontario Superior Court in London, Ont. (Anthony Fava) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/c61d93af-6489-4c09-9071-e79ac3cdefb9.jpeg] The Hockey Canada sexual assault trial is taking place at Ontario Superior Court in London, Ont. (Anthony Fava) Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers. More videos, surveillance footage and texts were shown in court as a London police detective and NHL player testified at the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial Wednesday. Anthony Fava summarizes the third day of the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial in London, Ont. Five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior team [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/trial-for-former-canadian-world-junior-players-set-to-begin-tuesday-what-led-to-it-and-whats-next] – Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote – each pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault, with McLeod also pleading not guilty to an additional charge of sexual assault as party to the offense. The Crown’s witness testimonies and evidence are trying to establish a timeline of what happened on the night of June 18 and 19, 2018, in which a woman alleges she was sexually assaulted in a London, Ont., hotel room following a Hockey Canada gala. The complainant’s identity is protected by a publication ban but is referred to in court documents as E.M. Wednesday’s trial proceedings picked up right where Tuesday’s left off [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/hockey-canada-sexual-assault-trial-bar-drinking-dancing-videos-shown-1], with London Police detective Tiffany Waque [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/hockey-canada-sexual-assault-trial-crown-calls-first-witness-to-testify-in-front-of-new-jury] answering questions about surveillance video timestamped on that night and more videos. A video displayed in court on Wednesday showed Taylor Raddysh, another player on the world junior team and a current forward with the Washington Capitals [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals], entering the Delta Armouries Hotel in London – the hotel where the alleged sexual assault took place – just before 1 a.m. on June 19. From there, Crown attorney Heather Donkers once again showed videos from the dance floor at Jack’s Bar in London – the bar where the complainant initially met McLeod and other team members. The videos came from the phones of McLeod and Ottawa Senators [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/ottawa-senators] right winger Drake Batherson, as well as security footage of the dance floor where McLeod and E.M. were interacting and dancing. Donkers presented multiple angles of McLeod and E.M. leaving Jack’s. One video was timestamped at 1:45 a.m. and appears to show McLeod and the complainant arriving at the hotel. A second video, timestamped at two minutes later, appears to show the two walking through the hotel lobby. According to Waque’s explanation of more security footage, more former world junior team members entered the hotel lobby, including the other four defendants, as well as Boris Katchouk, Batherson, Brett Howden, Sam Steel, Jonah Gadjovich, Robert Thomas, Jake Bean, Maxime Comtois, Colton Point and Tyler Steenbergen. They entered at different points and groups from 2:23 a.m. to 3:13 a.m. on June 19. Waque additionally provided context for screenshots of a team group chat conversation from the time of the incident. At 2:10 a.m., a message from McLeod’s phone said, “Who wants to be in 3 way quick.” Just nine minutes later, Hart’s phone number replies, “I’m in.” The Crown then showed videos taken by McLeod’s phone of E.M. in what appeared to be the hotel room. Donkers said in the Crown’s opening statement on Monday that the jury should pay attention to what was said in videos of the complainant in the hotel and what was not said. In one video, taken at 3:25 a.m., E.M. is shown on camera and appears to be clothed. "You're OK with this, though, right? You’re OK with this?" a male voice is heard saying. “Yeah, I'm OK,” she says. In another video taken at 4:26 a.m., the complainant is shown holding a towel around her body. “This was all consensual,” the complainant said. “I enjoyed it. Are you filming this? You are so paranoid. I’m so sober. That’s why I can’t do this right now.” According to more surveillance footage and Waque’s testimony, E.M. left the hotel in an Uber at 4:48 a.m. Instagram messages between the accounts of E.M. and McLeod, as well as group chats between members of the team sent in the following days in June 2018, were briefly mentioned, but Donkers said these pieces of evidence would be used later in another witness' testimony. Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial: Bar Drinking, Dancing Videos Shown [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/7819e56d-5f32-4643-90a3-23eabf72d14e.jpeg] Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial: Bar Drinking, Dancing Videos Shown Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers. [https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/hockey-canada-sexual-assault-trial-bar-drinking-dancing-videos-shown-1] One of Formenton’s attorneys, Daniel Brown, conducted most of the defense’s cross-examination of Waque. Brown questioned Waque on multiple fronts, including her knowledge of the inside of Jack’s Bar itself and whether she knew exactly how much alcohol was poured in the drinks E.M. consumed that night. Waque also said yes to Brown’s questions that Formenton was 18 at the time of the incident – below Ontario’s minimum legal drinking age of 19 – and did not go into Jack’s Bar that night. After lunch, Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham questioned Raddysh, the Crown’s next witness. Raddysh appeared on a video feed. He answered questions about the World Junior Championship and the significance of playing for Team Canada. “As a kid, you really want to be part of that team,” Raddysh said. When asked about the night of June 18, Raddysh said he did not have any recollection of what happened at the bar. He was allowed to read transcripts of interviews he did with London police investigators in 2018 and 2022 to refresh his memory. Raddysh did say that at one point, he was invited by McLeod and Katchouk to McLeod’s room and that while in there, he saw a woman in one of the two beds. Raddysh did say, though, that he only recalls being in the room for a short period before going back to his own, which he said he’s pretty sure was next door. Cunningham then presented Raddysh and the jury with screenshots from two separate text conversations. The first was the previously mentioned team group chat around 2:10 a.m., when McLeod asked who wanted to be in a “3-way.” The second screenshot was a text conversation between Raddysh and McLeod from 2:15 a.m. on June 19. McLeod asked whether Raddysh wanted to come to his room for a “gummer.” Raddysh was then asked by Cunningham what the phrase meant. “Oral sex,” Raddysh replied. The next messages shown were from roughly a week after the alleged incident. Raddysh messaged McLeod on June 26, 2018. “Bully just called me,” texted Raddysh, who, during his testimony, said he was likely referring to Shawn Bullock, the 2018 Canadian team manager. “Said there's an investigation.” When asked by Cunningham what investigation he was referring to in the text conversation, Raddysh replied, “That night in London.” Raddysh is expected to continue his witness testimony when court resumes Thursday morning.
