Content warning: This article discusses allegations of sexual assault.
LONDON, Ont. — In testimony during the sexual assault trial involving five former NHL players, former member of Canada`s 2018 World Juniors team, Tyler Steenbergen, stated he went to Michael McLeod`s hotel room after hearing food was available.
Steenbergen testified that after a teammate received a text about food in Room 209 of the Delta Armouries hotel, he entered with teammates Jake Bean and Dillon Dube. Inside, he observed Sam Steel, Carter Hart, Maxim Comtois, Drake Batherson, Brett Howden, Alex Formenton, and McLeod.
Upon entering the room and sitting at a desk, he heard a comment: “Guys, there’s a naked girl in the bathroom.”
Steenbergen, testifying remotely via Zoom from Sylvan Lake, Alta., where he works for his father`s home-building business, described his reaction as “kind of shocked.”
Due to a publication ban, the woman involved is referred to as “E.M.” in court records.
Responding to questioning from Crown lawyer Heather Donkers, the 27-year-old Steenbergen testified that E.M. emerged from the washroom and inquired if anyone wanted to have sex with her.
Court sessions prior to Steenbergen`s testimony faced interruptions due to defense objections regarding re-examination questions by assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham and technical issues, leading to the jury being excused five times.
Some of Cunningham`s questions aimed to clarify points E.M. made in her statements to London police on June 22 and August 31, 2018. E.M. also stated she did not request the police investigation be reopened after its closure in February 2019.
During earlier cross-examination by defense lawyer Megan Savard regarding her August 31, 2018, statement, E.M. had said it was “hard when you have a whole group of them, you want to be, like, ‘OK, I’m cool with this.’” While she wished to elaborate, Savard instructed her to answer only the question posed.
During re-examination, Cunningham asked E.M. to explain what she meant by being “cool with this.”
Testifying via CCTV from another location in the courthouse, E.M. explained, “I’m trying to cope with it.” She added, “I feel like I didn’t have another choice but to go along with it.”
E.M. testified she found cellphone videos described as “consent” videos of herself, shown to her for the first time during that police interview, to be “unsettling.”
She stated, “I didn’t know it was taken, so it was hard to wrap my head around what I was seeing.” She had previously testified that she first saw some videos recorded the night she met the players at the bar, Jack`s, during the trial itself.
E.M. explained her participation in the 2022 Hockey Canada investigation, led by Danielle Robitaille of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLC, rather than the 2018 police investigation. She stated that in 2018, the police probe was her priority. She joined the 2022 Hockey Canada investigation as she “felt like it was one more thing to do to put this behind me” after the police investigation had concluded.
E.M. began her testimony on May 2, undergoing nine days of cross-examination by defense lawyers and questioning by the Crown.
Michael McLeod faces two counts of sexual assault, including one for aiding in the offense. Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, and Carter Hart are each charged with one count of sexual assault. All defendants have entered not guilty pleas.
The trial at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is scheduled to resume Thursday for further testimony and cross-examination of Steenbergen.
Editor’s note
If you or someone you know needs support, resources are available. For those in Canada, province-specific help centers, crisis lines, and services exist. For readers in the United States, there is a list of resources and references for survivors and their loved ones.
Tristan Blackwood