A timeline of the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial and key moments
Katie Nicholson
| CBC News | Posted: June 7, 2025 8:00 AM | Last Updated: 24
hours ago
Mistrial, 2 juries, memory issues, fights over texts punctuate
London, Ont., case ahead of closing arguments
Image | Hockey Canada trial composite May 8
Caption: The five former world junior hockey players on trial
in London, Ont., are, from left, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton,
Carter Hart, Cal Foote and Michael McLeod. They've all pleaded
not guilty to sexual assault charges. During the six weeks of
proceedings, the case has taken many twists and turns. (Geoff
Robbins/The Canadian Press)
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WARNING: This article contains graphic details, references
sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced
sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
The sexual assault trial of five former world junior hockey
players stretched across three months in London, Ont., before
finally coming to a close June 2 with the last witness.
Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote and
Carter Hart have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges
stemming from their time at a hotel in London, where they
attended a Hockey Canada gala in June 2018 to celebrate their
team's world championship.
E.M., the complainant whose identity is protected under a
standard publication ban, was 20 years old at the time.
A lot has happened over the last six weeks, so as lawyers on
both sides begin their closing submissions Monday, here's a
week-by-week rundown of key moments and testimony.
* See all of CBC's coverage of the trial.
Week of April 22: The mistrial
The long-awaited trial began with a false start, which in some
ways set the tone for what would be a long six weeks mired in
technical arguments and voir dires. Indeed, what played out
along the edges of the case itself often threatened to upstage
the serious matters of the charges being tried.
Scarcely had court started to hear from the first Crown
witness, London Police Service Det. Tiffany Waque, when a
lunchtime interaction derailed the whole thing.
* Detective, last witness at Hockey Canada sex assault trial,
says not adding to E.M.'s trauma was top of mind
* What the jury didn't hear — and other things we can now
report — in world junior hockey sex assault trial
One of Formenton's lawyers, Hilary Dudding, was at the Covent
Garden Market — a few blocks from the courthouse and a popular
spot for lunch. Dudding and a juror had differing accounts of
the brief interaction that sparked concern among the defence
teams. Dudding's legal partner, Daniel Brown, vouched for the
lawyer's professionalism and insisted it was an innocuous
encounter. The juror appeared to feel otherwise when questioned
by Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia.
Amidst fears of a tainted jury, and after hearing arguments
from both sides, Carroccia ruled a mistrial. The jury was
discharged the morning of Friday, April 25, but arrangements
were in place to empanel a second jury before the end of the
day.
Image | Tiffany Waque
Caption: Det. Tiffany Waque of the London Police Service walks
Crown lawyer Heather Donkers through some of the video evidence
collected by police. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)
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Week of April 28: New jury, new trial
With a new jury in place after the mistrial, the Crown gave its
opening statement a second time before calling Waque to testify
once again. This time, the detective got through her evidence,
which included surveillance footage of Jack's, the bar where
E.M. and the hockey players first met, and the Delta hotel in
London.
It also included text messages from McLeod to the team inviting
them to a "3 way," and two videos from McLeod's phone in which
he asks E.M. if she is OK with what is happening or consented
to the acts that had already happened.
Image | EM testifies
Caption: E.M., the woman at the centre of the case, began her
marathon testimony in the witness box on May 2 and finished on
May 14. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)
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Much of the early weeks of the trial were hamstrung by
technical gremlins, an inability to play or view evidence
through the monitors and connectivity issues with witnesses.
Outside the courtroom, non-working elevators complicated
getting the jurors and defence teams into place.
After Waque's testimony ended, the Crown called former world
junior player Taylor Raddysh, who was in the middle of a
Stanley Cup playoff run with the Washington Capitals. Raddysh,
testifying remotely, was unable to recall much about that
night, telling the Crown he was briefly in Delta hotel Room 209
(McLeod's room) but couldn't remember much about E.M.
Raddysh said he went to bed, but his roommate, Brett Howden,
woke him up, slamming the hotel door. Raddysh testified he also
received a text message from McLeod inviting him to Room 209
for "a gummer," which he said he understood to be oral sex, but
couldn't remember when he came across that text message or even
if he saw it that night. Raddysh wrapped up that Friday.
The same morning, people supporting E.M. had started to appear
outside the courthouse with signs, chanting at the accused as
they walked in.
Next to testify was another former world junior teammate, Boris
Katchouk, who was also briefly in 209 with Raddysh that night.
Katchouk said he had a short interaction with E.M. in the room
— he had a slice of pizza and she asked for a bite, but he
didn't share it. Court heard McLeod asked him if he'd like "a
gummer," but Katchouk said he ignored the offer, and he was
drunk and wanted to go to bed.
Image | David Humphrey EM cross
Caption: David Humphrey, representing Michael McLeod, was the
first to cross-examine E.M. He suggested she urged McLeod to
invite others into the hotel room because she wanted ‘a wild
night.’ (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)
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On the afternoon of Friday, May 2, E.M. began what would be
marathon testimony from another room in the courthouse, with
her image shown in the main courtroom via closed-circuit
television (CCTV). Court heard for the first time how E.M. was
of two minds about even going out that night, and how she
rushed home from work, got dressed, picked up a friend and
arrived at Jack's bar to meet work colleagues.
* What E.M. told the jury over 9 days of testimony in the
Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
E.M. spoke about meeting McLeod and an older "wing man" who was
talking up the player to her, and about feeling uncomfortable
"sandwiched" between players on the dance floor, and drunk and
"out of it" when she left Jack's bar with McLeod. She said she
accepted she was going to go back with McLeod because they had
been close all night.
Image | Daniel Brown shot glasses
Caption: Lawyer Daniel Brown shows the court a shot glass to
demonstrate the Jägerbomb glasses contain less alcohol than a
traditional shot glass at Jack's bar, where E.M. and the hockey
players were drinking in June 2018. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)
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Week of May 5: E.M. cross-examination
E.M. started her week where she left off, testifying about
going to McLeod's hotel room, where they initially had
consensual sex. Then, in graphic detail, she described the
alleged sexual assaults in the room. E.M. also spoke of being
surprised and confused when other men started arriving.
E.M. said the men put a bed sheet on the floor and told her to
lie on it and masturbate. She spoke to being scared, humiliated
and even being spat on. She recalled being slapped hard on her
buttocks, of men putting their penises in her face, and that
she cried. She also testified some of the players mused about
whether she could put golf balls or a golf club in her vagina.
WATCH | Detective in reopened world junior hockey case wraps
testimony:
Media Video | The National : Testimony wraps up at world junior
hockey sexual assault trial
Caption: Testimony has concluded at the sexual assault trial
for five former world junior hockey players, with only one
defendant taking the stand. Closing arguments in the case will
begin June 9.
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McLeod's lawyer, David Humphrey, was the first to cross-examine
E.M. He introduced the defence's counter-narrative, suggesting
E.M. wanted "a wild night" and she was the one who pressed
McLeod to invite men into the room for sex.
Megan Savard, lawyer for Hart, had turbulent interactions with
E.M. as she mined discrepancies between earlier accounts of the
allegations given to police and Hockey Canada, and her
testimony. Savard suggested E.M. made up the allegations
because she was guilty about cheating on her boyfriend. That
Wednesday court hearing abruptly ended with the complainant in
tears. She returned the next day noticeably steelier in her
responses to Savard.
Image | anti-GBV advocates
Caption: Advocates against gender-based violence frequently
gathered outside the courthouse to support E.M. as she
testified and was cross-examined. (Katie Nicholson/ CBC)
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Brown, Formenton's lawyer, raised the ire of advocates and the
Crown when he suggested E.M. had an "alter ego" he called "fun"
E.M. when she drank (In court, the lawyers would refer to her
actual name, but we can't report it due to the publication
ban).
After the jury left for the day, the Crown suggested this
device was disrespectful toward E.M. and Carroccia suggested he
stop using the moniker. The next week, as he entered the
courthouse, Brown was heckled by an advocate who asked him if
his "alter ego" would be in court that day.
Brown also memorably produced, in court, the Jägerbomb shot
glasses at Jack's bar to prove they don't contain as much
alcohol as a traditional shot glass, an argument used to
undermine E.M.'s testimony about how drunk she was.
Week of May 12: Trial flips to judge-alone
Lisa Carnelos, representing Dubé, lobbed questions at E.M.
about why she didn't immediately disclose the alleged assaults
to her friends, while Julianna Greenspan, Foote's lawyer,
presented the court with a pair of high- and thin-heeled shoes
like the ones E.M. wore that night. The shoes were, court
heard, not easy to slip on. Greenspan used them to suggest E.M.
never tried to leave the room as she testified she had.
Throughout the cross-examination, the defence lawyers were
routinely frustrated by E.M.'s answers. She often used her
responses to inject her own points. Carroccia, several times,
urged her to simply answer the question asked.
On May 14, E.M. finished her testimony and was dismissed by the
judge.
Image | HowdenMay20
Caption: Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham, left, questions
former world junior hockey player Brett Howden. The gaps in
Howden’s memory were so great that Cunningham sought permission
to cross-examine him. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)
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The Crown then called former player Tyler Steenbergen, a
plain-spoken witness testifying from Alberta.
He told the court about being in Room 209 and being shocked
when a naked woman walked out of the bathroom. He said the
woman started asking the men for sex, and confirmed he saw Hart
and McLeod receive oral sex from her. He testified Formenton
went to the bathroom with her and Dubé slapped the woman's
buttocks.
"It wasn't hard," he said, "But it wasn't soft either."
He also said Foote did the splits over her, but he was unable
to say whether he was clothed when he did it.
This week would end on another dramatic moment: midday
Thursday, a note was delivered to Carroccia from a juror that
accused Brown of making fun of jurors — something he denied.
After much back and forth, it was agreed the trial should
continue without the jury and with Carroccia alone. Carroccia
discharged the jury and shortly thereafter continued hearing
evidence from Steenbergen.
Image | Ont-Hockey Canada-Sexual Assault 20250423
Caption: Carter Hart and his lawyer, Megan Savard, outside the
London, Ont., courthouse. Hart was the only player to testify
at the trial. (The Canadian Press)
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Week of May 20: Memory problems, fight over texts
E.M. faced a tough cross-examination, but Brett Howden's time
as a witness was a close second. The Vegas Golden Knight, who
also testified remotely, clearly frustrated the Crown with his
gaps in memory.
Howden was unable to recall many details he had previously
shared with investigators, so assistant Crown attorney
Cunningham made an application to cross-examine her own witness
on 18 inconsistencies she identified and sought a ruling on
whether his memory loss was feigned.
* 'Consent videos' a focus of ex-world junior hockey players'
trial — but does such evidence stand up in court?
In a memorable moment, Savard told Carroccia that Howden wasn't
particularly valuable to the defence and described him as a
"plainly unsophisticated" witness. "He didn't come dressed for
court. He is inarticulate, a poor communicator, careless with
words."
Perhaps most crucial to the Crown were Howden's text messages
to Raddysh in which he described Dubé violently slapping E.M.'s
buttocks.
"Man, when I was leaving, Duber [Dubé] was smacking this girl's
ass so hard. Like it looked like it hurt so bad," court heard
he wrote in the text.
The Crown mounted three different efforts to have the texts
entered into evidence but each one failed. Those efforts ate
into court time and prolonged Howden's time as a witness into
the next week.
Image | Stephen Newton
Caption: Stephen Newton is the retired London Police Service
detective who early in 2019 closed the original investigation
into the alleged sexual assaults with no charges. He conducted
voluntary interviews with four of the accused men in 2018.
(Alexandra Newbould/ CBC)
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Week of May 26: Carter Hart takes one for the team
Carroccia's final ruling on Howden's text exchange came on the
Monday morning of this week, and Howden's time as a witness got
increasingly uncomfortable when Greenspan, representing Foote,
showed him videos from Jack's bar. Howden, who is not charged
in this case, could be seen grinding against E.M. on the dance
floor. The video also showed him patting her buttocks.
Greenspan noted Howden did not share these interactions with
Hockey Canada or police investigators.
Next to testify was Crown witness Stephen Newton, a retired
London police sergeant. He was the original detective who
looked into the June 2018 allegations of sexual assault and had
gathered voluntary statements from some of the players. His
interviews with McLeod, Formenton and Dubé that were conducted
in the last two months of 2018 were then played in full in
court — the first time we've heard from some of the accused
players in this case.
All three shared a similar narrative: That it was the woman who
aggressively sought sex with the men. McLeod did not disclose
he sent texts inviting others to Room 209 for sex, but
Formenton did tell Newton about the text.
Newton's line of questioning didn't probe whether there were
specific discussions about consent for each of the alleged acts
but focused more on the sobriety of E.M. and the players. His
investigation was closed early into 2019 with no charges being
laid.
The Crown asked him whether he ever viewed any of the
surveillance footage he collected from Jack's. He said he did
not. She also asked him whether he ever applied for any search
warrants. Newton said he did not.
Image | Det Ryan
Caption: Det. Lyndsey Ryan was the last witness called by the
defence. She is the London police officer who was tasked with
reinvestigating the reopened case in 2022. (Alexandra
Newbould/CBC)
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Humphrey, McLeod's lawyer, made a point of clarifying that
Newton, after learning of the existence of a text message from
McLeod inviting players to his room for sex, made no attempt to
obtain the message or contact the hockey player.
Court ended with a cliffhanger, as the Crown announced it was
looking into calling a new witness — another player who
recently returned to Canada. In the end, that idea was shelved
and Cunningham rested the Crown's case the next day.
* Making sense of some of the evidence in the Hockey Canada
sexual assault trial
Humphrey told court he and McLeod would not call evidence,
paving the way for Savard to calmly call her client, Hart,
which sent a jolt through the courtroom as he was the first —
and would eventually become the only — accused man to testify.
Of the five on trial, Hart appeared to have the most promising
career as a starting goalie with the Philadelphia Flyers.
(Note: When the players were first charged in this case, four
of the five were in the NHL, but they're no longer in the
league).
Hart told the court the weekend of the Hockey Canada gala in
2018 was only his third experience drinking alcohol, he was
open to sexual experiences, and in addition to McLeod sending a
text invite to Room 209, McLeod called him. Hart said E.M. was
soliciting sex from the men, and he asked for "a blowie" (a
blowjob) and she agreed. He said it didn't last long because he
made eye contact with another player and felt weird.
Hart testified the oral sex he received from E.M. was
consensual.
Under cross-examination, Hart acknowledged his voice could be
heard in one of the consent videos saying he was contacting
Dante Fabbro, a world junior hockey teammate at the time, to
try to get him to come to the room. The Crown suggested if it
were truly awkward in the room, he wouldn't be inviting other
players. Hart agreed the atmosphere was exciting.
Image | Justice Maria Carroccia
Caption: Justice Maria Carroccia will hear closing submissions
before taking some time to weigh the evidence and deliver her
decisions. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)
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Week of June 2: Last witness, defence rests
After taking the weekend to think about it and confer with his
client, Brown opted not to have Formenton testify, but he did
call Det. Lyndsey Ryan, the London police officer who was
tasked with reinvestigating the case.
Riaz Sayani, part of Hart's legal team, pushed Ryan about the
significant differences between E.M.'s 2018 police statement
and a 2022 statement prepared for Hockey Canada. Ryan responded
she thought those differences were important because it seemed
like she had "processed some stuff" in the four years that had
passed.
* Some rape crisis centres report spike in calls since start
of Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
The Crown used the opportunity to ask Ryan how E.M. seemed when
she learned of the new police investigation. Ryan told the
court E.M. was actually "quite upset." The officer also said:
"I got the sense that I was opening up some wounds that she was
trying to close."
Ryan would be the last witness called.
Carnelos, representing Dubé, and Greenspan, representing Foote,
both rested their cases.
The same day, court was dismissed so all the lawyers could
prepare their closing arguments before Carroccia. They were
scheduled to start Monday, June 9.
Week of June 9: Closing submissions start
On Monday, the five defence teams kick off closing submissions
as to why their clients should be found not guilty before the
Crown makes its final arguments.
A closing argument is a final speech by each lawyer to the
court, and can include summarizing the evidence and the main
points of the case.
Then, the fate of the five accused men will be in the hands of
Carroccia, who will weigh all the evidence before reaching her
decisions.
It is unknown how long that may take.
__________________________________________________________
If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that
of others around you, please call 911. For support in your
area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the
Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
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