LONDON, Ont. — The second day of the trial for 5 former NHL gamers accused of 2018 sexual assault started Wednesday with the jury being advised by the Crown that the case will hinge on consent.
“This can be a case about consent,” assistant Crown Heather Donkers mentioned in her opening statement. “And, equally as vital, this can be a case about what will not be consent.”
Donkers learn particulars about proof she anticipated that the Crown and defence would introduce throughout the trial, together with what’s alleged to have occurred within the lodge room at the Delta Armouries after a Hockey Canada gala June 18-19, 2018.
Opening statements are thought-about to be a abstract of what the Crown and defence intend on presenting as proof and are usually not supposed to be proof.
Superior Courtroom Justice Maria Carroccia learn directions to jury that “you and also you alone will resolve the information on this case.” She cautioned the jury, made up of 9 ladies and three males after the dismissal of two alternates, to not speak about this case outdoors the courtroom, to not look at information reviews in regards to the case and to not talk in any approach with anybody in regards to the case. Doing so may end in a mistrial.
Michael McLeod, 27, has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, together with one regarding aiding within the offence. Dillon Dube, 26, Cal Foote, 26, Alex Formenton, 25, and Carter Hart, 26, have every been charged with one rely every of sexual assault. The accused are required to be current in the course of the trial.
In Might 2022, a TSN report revealed that Hockey Canada had settled a civil lawsuit with a girl in London after she alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight males, together with members of the 2018 Canadian males’s world junior workforce, after an occasion honouring the workforce in June 2018.
An investigation by the London Police Service was launched in the summertime of 2018 and closed in February 2019, with investigators concluding that there was inadequate proof to put prices. After widespread scrutiny of Hockey Canada’s dealing with of the scenario, London police reopened its investigation in July 2022, laying prices in January 2024.
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