Lisa Carnelos, defence lawyer for Dillon Dubé, stands in front of the judge while cross-examining E.M.
(Alexandra Newbould/CBC)
The Latest
The sexual assault trial for five players on the 2018 Canadian world junior hockey team continues this week. It started in late April.Four of five defence lawyers have had a chance to question E.M., the complainant in Superior Court in London. Ont.We’re expecting the last defence lawyer to begin her cross-examination Tuesday morning.E.M.’s text messages to her best friend, as well as her alcohol consumption on the night of the alleged assaults, were the focus of questions today.The accused — Dillon Dubé, Cal Foote, 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 12
5 hours ago
That’s all for today
Lucas Powers
We’re wrapping up our live updates for today. Thanks for staying with us.
We’ll be back at the London courthouse for more coverage tomorrow morning.
If you’re just getting here, be sure to scroll down to get caught up.
We know testimony has included details some might find 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
1 more cross-examination left
Kate Dubinski
Court has adjourned for the day.
Tomorrow, Julianna Greenspan, lawyer for Cal Foote, will cross-examine E.M.
The Crown will then have a chance to re-direct, meaning the Crown can recall E.M. to testify, to ask her to clarify anything she said under cross-examination.
Proceedings are expected to restart at 10 a.m. ET.
6 hours ago
Memory of Hockey Canada statement questioned
Kate Dubinski
E.M. gave a statement to Hockey Canada on July 20, 2022. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)E.M. says she doesn’t remember if she reviewed the statement her lawyers submitted to Hockey Canada before she was questioned by Robitaille about it.
Carnelos says E.M. seems like a person who is well prepared, so it’s unlikely she wouldn’t have read it first.
But E.M. maintains she doesn’t really remember reviewing the statement, and that only a couple of months had passed since she signed off on it, so she figured it was correct.
Carnelos is finished her cross examination.
6 hours ago
Looking at Hockey Canada statement
Kate Dubinski
Carnelos says she has one more area to explore with E.M. — the statement E.M. gave to Hockey Canada on July 20, 2022.
E.M. is given an email from Rob Talach (the lawyer in her civil lawsuit against Hockey Canada) to lawyer Danielle Robitaille, who was hired by Hockey Canada to run an internal investigation.
Defence lawyers have raised the 2022 statement several times because some details in it differ from what E.M. told police in 2018.
Talach wrote to Robitaille on Monday, July 18, 2022, saying E.M. had been in his office on Sunday to go over Robitaille’s questions and answer them in the statement.
E.M. testifies she remembers having one night to review it and sign it. She said previously she didn’t write the statement, her lawyers did, and that’s why there are some differences from 2018.
6 hours ago
We’ll be back shortly
Lucas Powers
Court is now on its afternoon break.
Proceedings will resume again soon.
6 hours ago
Men referred to as ‘high-up hockey players’
Kate Dubinski
On June 22, 2018, E.M. texts her best friend that she’d just spent a long time with the police and at the hospital.
E.M. says it was the first time she told her friend about what she went through.
“She’s shocked because I had downplayed what happened,” E.M. tells Carnelos.
E.M. says she told her friend that her mom “is taking it hella serious and contacting police and shit.”
“The group of guys are all high-up hockey players,” E.M.’s text to her friend says. “Go figure. LMAO.”
Carnelos asks E.M. why she would text LMAO (short for “laughing my ass off”) about something so serious.
“I was in disbelief that not only did this horrible situation happen, but now it’s even more complicated because they’re high-up hockey players,” E.M. tells Carnelos.
6 hours ago
McLeod seemed ‘really chill’ at the bar
Kate Dubinski
Michael McLeod, centre, outside the courthouse in London, Ont. (Geoff Robins/The Canadian Press)In the texts, the best friend says there’s no way E.M. could have known McLeod was a bad guy.
“Girl, I’m so sorry,” the friend texted E.M. on June 19, 2018. “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.”
E.M. also texted her friend to say she felt a lot of guilt for cheating on her boyfriend by leaving the bar with McLeod. (This is something the complainant has also said under previous cross-examination.)
7 hours ago
Lawyer presses E.M. on why she didn’t tell her best friend
Kate Dubinski
The entrance to Room 209, back left, at the Delta hotel in London, Ont. The room was registered to some of the then junior hockey players now on trial. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)Carnelos suggests to E.M. she could have told someone who is her best friend that she was sexually assaulted.
One of the texts E.M. sent to her friend said she felt “dirty and used after.”
E.M. testifies she was trying to downplay things to her friend because she’d made her worry.
She says she doesn’t like to overburden people with her problems and at that time, she was still trying to downplay things for herself.
“I was in between ignoring it and pretending it didn’t happen. I’d never gone through something like that before,” she tells Carnelos
Carnelos keeps pressing E.M. about why she wouldn’t tell her best friend.
“I did feel embarrassment and shame. They [the men in the hotel room] were making fun of me all night. They were laughing at me. It was embarrassing….They kept me there. They kept laughing at me.”
Carnelos says that if E.M. had felt she’d been “sexually violated or assaulted that night,” she would have told her best friend.
The Crown objects and the jury is out as lawyers start a discussion.
7 hours ago
‘Being overdramatic’
Kate Dubinski
E.M. says she went home after speaking on the phone with her best friend while crying.
Later that morning, E.M. texted her co-worker, telling her she was fine. (She previously said she didn’t want to say anything to her co-worker about what happened because she didn’t know her very well.)
E.M. says she was also texting her best friend, who asked E.M. if she was OK.
E.M. replied she was OK and, “I think I was just being overdramatic earlier but I’m good.”
7 hours ago
Texts to her best friend
Kate Dubinski
E.M., right, appears by video during cross-examination. Judge Maria Carroccia is on the left. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)Carnelos is asking E.M. about her best friend, whose name is also protected under a publication ban.
(She’s a different friend than the one E.M. was with at the bar.)
The lawyer says E.M.’s best friend is “the kind of friend everyone needs.”
E.M. agrees.
E.M. called her friend the morning of June 19, 2018, just before 5 a.m., as she left the hotel room, court was told.
Carnelos has E.M. look at printouts of texts between E.M. and her best friend that were sent in the hours and days after the alleged sexual assaults in the hotel room.
The friend had given copies of these texts to police.
