EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains details that may be graphic. Reader discretion is advised.
The female complainant in the high-profile world junior sexual assault trial was allegedly “egging on” the players to have sex with her, one of their defence lawyers suggested Monday.
The 27-year-old woman, whose identity is protected under a standard publication ban, has been under cross-examination for what is now a week straight; E.M., as she’s known in court documents, began testifying on May 2, and defence questioning started late last Monday.
Cross-examination has been at times tense as lawyers for Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote each have the chance to question E.M., who has been appearing virtually inside the London, Ont., courtroom.
All five men have pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault stemming from what the Crown alleges was non-consensual group sex in June 2018. McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
Dan Brown, lawyer for Formenton, wrapped up his cross-examination of E.M. Monday morning after beginning Thursday afternoon.
Brown, who had been questioning E.M. about alleged gaps in her memory of the night she met McLeod and his teammates at a bar in downtown London on June 18, 2018, finished his questioning by asking about the alleged non-consensual group sex.
Court has heard the team was in town for events marking its gold-medal performance at that year’s championship, and E.M. was out with friends at the time they met. After being with McLeod and his teammates at the bar, E.M. would go on to have consensual sex with McLeod in his room at the Delta hotel in the early morning hours of June 19.
E.M., who was 20 at the time, said she was drunk and not of clear mind the night of the alleged incident.
Brown alleges E.M. felt ‘scorned’
E.M. told Brown she was unclear about the sequence of alleged acts after she had consensual sex. Court has heard E.M. was in the washroom after she had sex with McLeod, and came out to a group of men in the room allegedly invited for a “3 way” by McLeod in a group chat.
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She said she was naked at the time, there was a bedsheet on the floor and the men had asked her to lie down and masturbate.
E.M. told Brown she had a tough time identifying most of the men in the room, but remembered McLeod and Formenton as she had one-on-one sexual activity with them.
Brown suggested E.M. was “egging on” the group to have sexual intercourse with her.
“Do you remember saying, ‘Are you going to f–ck me or play golf?’” Brown asked. Court has heard there were golf clubs in McLeod’s room at the time.
E.M. replied she didn’t remember saying that, adding that when she heard those claims she was “shocked” because it didn’t sound like her. E.M. has said she was on “autopilot” and “going through the motions” that night to “make sure I could get out of there.”
Brown suggested E.M. was frustrated when no one would have sex with her. He said some of them said they had girlfriends. E.M. said her frustration came from when she tried to leave but was allegedly coaxed by them into staying.
Eventually, Brown said Formenton said he would have sex with her, but not in front of everyone, adding she then “pulled” him into the washroom, where they had sex.
E.M. said she didn’t recall doing that, and that she was followed into the bathroom; Brown said a witness will testify at the trial that she did pull Formenton in.
E.M. has testified she has no recollection of any conversation with Formenton in the bathroom; Brown suggested there was, and said the two talked about unprotected sex, where Formenton should ejaculate and her feeling embarrassed about a sunburn on her chest Brown said she got from nude tanning earlier that week. E.M. said she did not recall any conversation with Formenton.
Brown suggested E.M. felt “scorned” at the end of the night because the men didn’t say anything nice to her, walk her out or call her a cab. She rejected that claim, and said she felt “disrespected” the entire night.
E.M. said she remembered some of the men saying, “Put your phones away” that night. She told police the next day she was worried some of the men had pictures or videos that night. Brown suggested part of her motivation for speaking to police was that they could get the men to erase anything they captured.
“I didn’t know what they would do with the videos,” E.M. replied.
“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.”
Dube lawyer begins questioning
Lisa Carnelos, lawyer for Dube, began her cross-examination of E.M. Monday morning. After she is done, Foote’s lawyer can then question the complainant.
Carnelos questioned E.M. about text messages she sent to her best friend throughout June 19. Court heard E.M. spoke with the friend over the phone after the alleged incident, and her friend followed up via text around 5:02 a.m. June 19.
“Text me in the morning if you want to talk about it,” Carnelos said she wrote.
Throughout the day, Carnelos said E.M. was texting back and forth with a colleague who went out that night, and replied to her best friend around 3:36 p.m. after she followed up.
“I was being a bit overdramatic earlier,” Carnelos said she wrote, adding she said she felt “guilty” and “dirty and used after” in those texts to her best friend. The best friend replied: “OK, glad you’re OK.” The best friend learned on June 22 of how serious the allegations were when E.M. said she went to police and the hospital.
Carnelos suggested she felt guilty because of cheating on her boyfriend, now fiancé, and for being embarrassed for how she was behaving in the room.
E.M. said she was trying to downplay what she said in the phone call, was “in between ignoring it and pretending it didn’t happen” the day after, and eventually felt “embarrassment and shame” not only for her actions but for “what they did to me.”
“They kept me there,” E.M. told Carnelos.
“They could see I was out of my mind.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
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