Content warning: This story includes allegations of sexual assault.
During court proceedings on Thursday in London, Ontario, a group chat involving 11 members of the 2018 Canadian world juniors hockey team was introduced as evidence. The prosecution highlighted messages showing players discussed the alleged incident of June 19, 2018, before they were interviewed by investigators from Hockey Canada. This testimony occurred during the trial of five former NHL players who are facing sexual assault charges.
A message from Michael McLeod, read in court from a text conversation retrieved from Tyler Steenbergen’s phone, stated:
“We all need to say the same thing if we get interviewed can’t have different stories or make anything up.”
Participants in this group chat included former members of the 2018 team: Carter Hart, Jake Bean, Cal Foote, Dillon Dube, Maxime Comtois, Drake Batherson, Brett Howden, Sam Steel, Alex Formenton, Michael McLeod, and Tyler Steenbergen.
Another message from Jake Bean within the chat, also presented to the court, included the following statements:
“Like we don’t need to make anything up. No one did anything wrong. We went to that room to eat. The girl came, she wanted to have sex with all of us. No one did. … and then we got out of the room when things got too crazy.”
Bean’s message further claimed, “And Mikey literally has a video giving her consent.”
Assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers read many of the 134 pertinent messages into the court record during the testimony of Tyler Steenbergen. Steenbergen provided his testimony remotely for the second consecutive day via Zoom conferencing from Sylvan Lake, Alberta.
The complainant in the case, known as “E.M.” due to a court-imposed publication ban on her identity, concluded her testimony on Wednesday after spending nine days on the stand.
Dillon Dube also contributed a message to the group chat, writing:
“Let’s not make her sound too crazy because if she gets wind of this and then she can get even more angry and we don’t need that so just be good about it but the truth with it.”
Michael McLeod is charged with two counts of sexual assault, including one related to allegedly aiding in the offence. Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, and Carter Hart each face one count of sexual assault. All five defendants have entered not guilty pleas to their respective charges.
The jury was unexpectedly excused early on Thursday afternoon. The trial at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is anticipated to resume on Friday morning.
Tristan Blackwood