Content warning: This story includes allegations of sexual assault.
LONDON, Ontario – During the trial of five former NHL players facing sexual assault charges stemming from a June 2018 incident, the defense counsel on Monday challenged the complainant regarding the delay in conveying the seriousness of the alleged event in text messages to her best friend until several days later.
The witness, identified as “E.M.” in court documents due to a publication ban protecting her name, testified remotely via CCTV from another location within the courthouse. She continued to answer questions from lawyer Lisa Carnelos, who represents defendant Dillon Dube. This marked E.M.’s sixth day of cross-examination.
Under cross-examination, E.M. stated that she called her best friend, crying, after leaving the Delta Armouries hotel in the early hours of June 19, 2018.
Carnelos questioned why E.M. had a seemingly normal text conversation later that morning with a co-worker who had been with her at the bar, yet she did not respond to a text from her best friend until later, and when she did, she did not mention that anything had happened.
“I think I was just being overdramatic earlier (over the phone) but I’m good,” E.M. responded in a text when her best friend inquired about her well-being.
Carnelos again asked why E.M. did not tell her best friend about the events that took place in the hotel room.
“I was torn between ignoring it and pretending it didn’t happen. I’d never gone through something like that before,” she replied.
She added, “I did feel embarrassment and shame. They were mocking me throughout the night. They were laughing at me. It was humiliating. … They kept me there. They kept laughing at me.”
Several days later, on June 22, 2018, E.M. texted her best friend to inform her that she had gone to the London police and the hospital. Her friend responded with an expletive.
“She’s shocked because I had downplayed what happened,” E.M. explained in court.
In a subsequent text message to her best friend, she later wrote, “The group of guys are all high-level hockey players. Go figure. LMAO.”
Carnelos questioned E.M. about her use of the abbreviation “LMAO” (laughing my ass off) in connection with such a serious situation.
“I was in disbelief that not only did this horrible situation occur, but it was now even more complicated because they were high-level hockey players,” E.M. stated.
Earlier in the day, Daniel Brown, legal counsel for Alex Formenton, completed his cross-examination of E.M. He suggested that she was the one who initiated sexual contact by pulling Formenton into the washroom. E.M. countered that she was going to use the bathroom and someone followed her inside.
Brown also proposed that E.M. felt “scorned” because none of the individuals walked her out of the room or arranged for her transportation home at the conclusion of the night.
“I’d never had an encounter that ends in that way,” she testified in court. “I wasn’t scorned about it. I felt disrespected the whole night, so I’m not sure why I thought the end would be any different.”
When she first reported the incident to London police, E.M. informed Detective Stephen Newton that she was concerned about potential videos of what had transpired.
“I didn’t know what they might do with the videos,” E.M. said. “I was already in such a horrible situation, I would not have wanted to see that. I didn`t want to be there. I didn’t want people recording what was happening to me.”
Michael McLeod, 27, faces two counts of sexual assault, including one related to aiding 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 have entered pleas of not guilty to the charges against them.
Cross-examination is expected to resume on Tuesday at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, with Juliana Greenspan, counsel for defendant Cal Foote, conducting the questioning.
Following the completion of cross-examination, the Crown prosecution will have the opportunity for redirect examination, allowing them to clarify any points raised during E.M.’s cross-examination.
Tristan Blackwood