By The Canadian Press

Crown lays out its case in sex assault trial of 5 former world junior hockey players

Apr 23, 2025 | 2:00 AM

LONDON — A former member of Canada’s world junior hockey team invited several of his teammates into his London, Ont., hotel room as a young woman lay naked under the bed covers, prosecutors alleged as the sexual assault trial of five players began Wednesday.

Michael McLeod and the woman had just had sex after meeting earlier that night at a bar, where she had about eight drinks while out with friends, the Crown told the court in its opening submissions.

Soon after they had sex, “the atmosphere in the room changed,” prosecutor Heather Donkers said as she laid out the evidence the Crown expects to present over the course of the trial.

“Who wants to be in a three-way quick?” McLeod allegedly messaged teammates in a group chat, adding his room number. He also went into the hallway to invite people, with up to 10 present in the room at some point, Donkers told the court.

Over the next few hours, a number of sexual acts occurred between the complainant and some of the men in the room, she told the court.

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The Crown anticipates jurors will not hear that the woman said no to specific sexual acts or that she was physically resisting, but will hear that she felt she had no choice.

“She found herself going through the motions, just trying to get through the night by doing and saying what she believed that they wanted,” Donkers told the court. The accused players took no steps to ensure there was consent but “just did what they wanted,” the prosecutor alleged.

McLeod and his co-accused — Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton — have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in the June 2018 encounter. McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.

Court has heard that many of the team’s players were in town that night for a gala.

CAUTION: The following paragraphs contain graphic content some readers may find disturbing.

Each of the five accused players is alleged to have had sexual contact with the woman without her voluntarily agreeing to those specific acts, Donkers said.

It’s alleged McLeod, Hart and Dube obtained oral sex from the complainant at some point during the night, and Dube also allegedly slapped her buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with someone else.

Formenton is alleged to have vaginally penetrated the complainant in the bathroom. Foote allegedly did the splits over the complainant’s face while she lay on the ground, grazing his genitals over her face.

The Crown alleges McLeod vaginally penetrated the complainant again at the end of the night, without her consent. It’s also alleged he assisted and encouraged his teammates to engage in sexual acts with her knowing she had not consented. Their first sexual encounter, alone in the room, is “not the subject of this trial,” the Crown said.

Some witnesses are expected to testify that the complainant at times offered to perform certain sexual acts and asked if anyone was going to have sex with her, Donkers said.

The complainant is expected to say “she was going along with what the men in the room wanted” and what she felt they expected of her because she was “drunk, uncomfortable and she did not know what would happen if she did anything,” the prosecutor said.

Toward the end of the night, McLeod took two short videos of the complainant saying that everything had been consensual, but the Crown plans to argue those aren’t evidence of consent, Donkers said.

“This is a case about consent. And equally as important, this is a case about what is not consent,” Donkers said.

“This case is not about whether (the complainant) said no, or removed herself from an unwelcome situation when she had the opportunity. This case is about whether (the complainant) voluntarily agreed to engage in each and every instance of sexual touching that took place, at the time that they happened.”

After the incident was reported to police, McLeod sent text messages to the complainant, including one in which he asked her what she could do “to make this go away,” the Crown said it expects to show.

In a group chat between some team members, including the five accused, there were discussions about what happened that night and making sure they all told investigators the same thing, Donkers said.

She said the trial is expected to hear that Foote and Dube also called teammates, asking them to leave out what they had done when describing the night’s events.

Also Wednesday, court began hearing testimony from a police officer who became involved in the investigation in 2022.

The judge dismissed jurors early, saying something had come up during the lunch break that she needed to discuss with the lawyers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2025.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press