Content warning: This report contains allegations of sexual assault.
LONDON, Ont. — On Thursday, the woman who is the complainant in the sexual assault trial involving five former National Hockey League players faced sharp questioning regarding who bore responsibility for the alleged incident in June 2018.
The woman, identified in court proceedings as “E.M.” due to a publication ban protecting her identity, testified remotely via CCTV from another location within the courthouse. She was questioned by Daniel Brown, the lawyer representing Alex Formenton.
Brown suggested that on the night in question, after consuming alcoholic drinks, “Sober E.M.” relaxed and became an “alternate personality” he termed “Fun E.M.” (He used her actual first name, which is under the publication ban, when referring to these states).
At one point during Brown’s cross-examination, E.M. remarked, “I don’t know that I like the alter ego.”
Brown pressed the point, stating, “`Fun E.M.’ doesn`t consider if cheating on her boyfriend is a good or bad decision. `Fun E.M.’ didn’t contemplate the repercussions. ‘Fun E.M.’ went off to a hotel with a man she barely knew.”
E.M. acknowledged taking responsibility for going to the Delta Armouries hotel with Michael McLeod and had previously testified that she felt uncomfortable with subsequent events after consensual sexual activity with McLeod.
“You stated you blamed yourself for what occurred for many years,” Brown put to her. “You no longer blame yourself. Who do you place blame on?”
“I still hold some blame,” E.M. replied.
Brown then asked, “Do you believe it is simpler to deny your intentional decisions than to acknowledge the feelings of shame, guilt, and embarrassment resulting from your choices?”
“I’m not certain I agree with you,” E.M. said. “I bear a lot of blame for myself, but I believe other individuals should also be held accountable for that night.”
Brown revisited earlier testimony where E.M. said the men she encountered at the bar paid for all her drinks that evening, highlighting that she and a friend had purchased some Jagerbombs before meeting McLeod.
“Who is responsible for ‘Sober E.M.’ transforming into ‘Fun E.M.’?” Brown inquired. He is the third lawyer to cross-examine E.M. over four days. “Is that E.M. or Mr. McLeod or Mr. Formenton or Mr. (Carter) Hart or someone else? Whose fault is that?”
E.M. responded that she was accountable for her drinking.
“It was your personal decision to become intoxicated?” Brown asked.
“I should be permitted to (have drinks) without concern about something negative happening,” she stated.
Earlier, E.M. was cross-examined by Megan Savard, who represents Hart. Savard challenged E.M. about the specific words she used shortly after the alleged event, seeking clarification on whether she heard the men in the hotel room say, “C’mon, don’t leave” or “She’s crying, don’t let her leave” when she attempted to exit the room on June 19, 2018. Savard suggested the latter phrasing was altered to sound more “criminal.”
“I stand by what I said,” E.M. maintained. “I was just trying to articulate the words. They did not want me to leave and ensured I didn’t by guiding me back to the bedsheet.”
Savard countered that any mention of crying during that night only surfaced in testimony this week.
“The reason you fabricated this narrative about the men saying, ‘Don’t let her leave, she’s crying’ is because you wish to make it more probable that the jury perceives this as worse than it was,” Savard asserted.
“I am speaking my truth, my account,” E.M. said. “I am not trying to portray it as worse now. … I have no motive to invent a more severe version.”
Savard urged E.M. to locate a reference in her 2018 statement to the London Police Service where she stated the players saw her crying. When later asked to read from her statement, E.M. read a section where she informed Det. Stephen Newton that the men in the room could be heard saying “she’s crying.”
“Thank you for finding that,” E.M. said.
Michael McLeod, 27, faces two counts of sexual assault, including one related to assisting in the offense. Dillon Dube, 26, Cal Foote, 26, Alex Formenton, 25, and Carter Hart, 26, are each charged with one count of sexual assault. All accused individuals have entered pleas of not guilty to their respective charges.
Cross-examination proceedings are anticipated to resume on Friday.
Tristan Blackwood