E.M., shown on a screen in Superior Court in London, Ont., on Wednesday, spent a ninth day testifying at the sexual assault trial for five ex-world junior hockey players.
(Alexandra Newbould/CBC)
The Latest
E.M. has finished testifying and was dismissed by the judge.She spent most of today clarifying certain parts of her testimony in tense cross-examinations.Proceedings were slowed down by repeated objections by the defence teams.The court began hearing from an ex-teammate of the accused men. His testimony will continue on Thursday.The accused — Cal Foote, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart and Michael McLeod — have all pleaded not guilty.WARNING: Court proceedings include graphic details of alleged sexual assault and might affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who’s been affected.Updates
May 14
5 hours ago
That’s all for today
Lucas Powers
Proceedings have ended for the day, so we are wrapping up our live coverage. Thanks for reading along.
If you’re just getting here, scroll down to get caught up on how the day unfolded.
We know testimony has included details that can be difficult to read. There are support services available.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database.
5 hours ago
Court adjourns for the day
Kate Dubinski
Donkers, the Crown lawyer, says she is ready to move to a slightly different line of questioning, so court has adjourned for the day.
Steenbergen, former teammate of the accused men, will continue testifying when proceedings resume around 10 a.m. ET tomorrow.
5 hours agoKate Dubinski
The Delta Armouries hotel, where former Canadian world junior hockey players stayed in 2018. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)WARNING: This post contains graphic details.
Steenbergan says he, Dubé and Bean went to McLeod’s room and saw teammates Sam Steele, Carter Hart, Max Comtois, Drake Batherson, Brett Howden, Alex Formenton and McLeod.
Steenbergen says that when he went to sit down at the desk at the far side of the room, he heard someone say, “Guys, there’s a naked girl in the bathroom.”
He testifies he was shocked to learn that. Soon after, he says, a naked woman came out of the bathroom.
“She went onto the floor and started masturbating and asked guys to come have sex with her,” Steenbergen says. “She said, ‘Can one of you guys come over and f–k me?’”
That’s when Hart got oral sex from her, Steenbergen says, and it lasted for about 30 seconds or a minute.
“He unbuckled his belt and pulled [his pants] down toward his knees.”
Steenbergen says that while this was happening, he was trying to have a conversation with someone else, so wasn’t paying much attention.
After that, Steenbergen says, he remembers the woman saying, “You guys are being pussies” and then he remembers McLeod “getting a blow job” in a similar manner to Hart.
Correction: A previous version of this post mistakenly referred to Max Comtois as Matt Comtois.
5 hours agoKate Dubinski
Tyler Steenbergen is questioned by Crown lawyer Heather Donkers. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)After the gala on June 18, 2018, to celebrate the world junior team’s gold medal, the team, some staff members and Hockey Canada staff went to a pub or restaurant, Steenbergen testifies.
He says that at Jack’s bar, he was “drunk but not overly drunk,” and he assumed all the guys were drinking and drunk.
Steenbergen says he saw “Mikey and the girl” at Jack’s when he was on his way to the bathroom.
He didn’t note how drunk McLeod (who friends call Mikey) or the woman he was with were.
Steenbergen was at Jack’s until it closed, then got to the hotel where his roommate, Jake Bean, was waiting in the lobby because Bean didn’t have a key.
The two went to McLeod’s room after someone texted to let them know there was food there.
6 hours agoKate Dubinski
Donkers asks Steenbergen about his background. He’s 27 and from Sylvan Lake, Alta., where he works for his dad, building starter homes.
(After his time with the world junior team, he played international hockey).
Steenbergen says he knew a lot of the players on the world junior team already, from having played with and against them.
Dillon Dubé, one of the accused men, was the captain and a good leader, “trying to get everyone to hang out with one another.”
Steenbergen says the team got along well, partly because there were no superstars on the team, so they all had to “buy in.”
“That’s how I feel we got super close. As a team, to win gold, there were no superstars, so we knew we had to get to know each other and all our strengths and weaknesses.”
6 hours ago
Tyler Steenbergen, ex-teammate of the accused men, next to testify
Kate Dubinski
Steenbergen celebrates his game-winning goal against Sweden at the 2018 World Junior Championships. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)The Crown’s next witness is Tyler Steenbergen. He’s testifying remotely, via Zoom.
Heather Donkers is the Crown lawyer asking him questions.
He tells the judge that he’s in a room by himself.
6 hours ago
E.M.’s time testifying is over
Kate Dubinski
A court sketch shows E.M. testifying. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)E.M. has finished being asked questions, then being cross-examined and re-examined.
The complainant in the trial, which began last last month, started testifying on May 2, just after 2 p.m. ET.
Cross-examination began on Monday, also at around 2 p.m.
Today was the re-examination by the Crown.
“You have completed giving your evidence, so you are free to go,” Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia tells E.M.
“Thank you very much,” she says, and walks out of the CCTV room.
There’s now a short break to change over the technology for the next witness, who will testify via Zoom shown in the courtroom.
6 hours ago
Clip from police interview played
Kate Dubinski
Court has restarted after another break because of an objection from the defence.
The jury is now seeing a clip from video of the June 26, 2022, interview with a London police detective. In the clip, she’s being shown individual pictures of the world junior team Canada.
E.M. tells the Crown, Cunningham, that when she was shown the team photo, she could compare who was who, but when she was shown each picture one by one, it was harder to compare features.
E.M. says she did her best to tell the officer what she remembered with the thought police would continue to investigate her claims.
“I was trying to do my part, but it was clear that I was unsure and thought the police could investigate” and confirm who each person was, and could also look into it if E.M. didn’t identity the correct person.
7 hours ago
More legal arguments, another break
Kate Dubinski
The latest objection has led to another break in proceedings.
We’re now on the afternoon recess for about 15 minutes.
7 hours ago
The stakes of a re-examination are ‘huge’: lawyer
Katie Nicholson
Toronto-based criminal defence lawyer Annamaria Enenajor. (CBC)A little context on the importance of the Crown’s re-examination today.
We turned to Toronto-based criminal defence lawyer Annamaria Enenajor, who isn’t connected to the world juniors case but spoke generally on re-examination.
Enenajor says it’s done by the Crown and generally has three purposes.
“One is to rehabilitate a witness’s credibility. The second is to clarify evidence that’s been elicited in cross-examination that may have come out a little bit unclear or may have made the witness look worse than she actually is. And the third is to elaborate or contextualize evidence that came up for the first time in cross-examination.” she explains.
Enenajor says “the stakes are huge.”
“Here we have a case where we have a witness who has withstood cross-examination for seven days, five different counsel, very skilled cross-examiners, each advancing their own theory of their client’s innocence.”
Enenajor says it is incredibly challenging to try to poke holes in the defence theories of five different legal teams.
(A reminder that each of the accused men in this trial has his own team of lawyers).
