It started out as a June night of partying and celebration in London, Ont. for members of the gold medal winning 2018 Canadian World Junior hockey team. However, it ended up with five of the players embroiled in a highly publicized sexual assault case involving a lone woman who was 20 years old at the time in a hotel room in the downtown area. The trial had a rocky start after issues with jurors and different members of the legal defence teams. A mistrial was declared twice before the case was put into the hands of Justice Maria Carroccia, who took over the trial listening to evidence from the Crown and the defence on her own. “There was a lot of hype about the case from the day that they were charged and released,” said Nick Cake, a criminal defence lawyer who has paid close attention to the trial. “Often times sexual assault cases are about the word of one person against the word of another but in this case it’s the word of one person against the words of multiple people.” During the trial, the court heard testimony from the lone female who can only be identified by the initials E.M. She told the court that she had been drinking and dancing with the players at Jack’s Bar on Richmond Street on that June night in 2018. She testified that she had agreed to go back to the Delta Armouries Hotel for consensual sex with one of the accused, Michael McLeod. She added that she was surprised that others had gathered in room 209 of the hotel as well. “Whether they are found guilty or not, I think we have heard things that are quite disturbing,” said Laura Misener, a professor and Safe Sport Advisor at Western University. “I think the attention to this case is indicating that there is more work to be done despite all of the policies that have been set in place.” London police initially investigated the alleged incident in June of 2018, but found that there was insufficient evidence at the time. However, the case was reopened, and charges were laid in 2024 after it was discovered that the woman settled a lawsuit with Hockey Canada years earlier. McLeod, along with Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Carter Hart, and former London Knight Alex Formenton, have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, with McLeod also pleading not guilty to the additional charge of being a party to the offence. This sexual assault trial has been polarizing at times, with protesters from both sides outside the London Courthouse. Not only has this case made headlines across Canada, but around the world as well. Cake added that he wants to remind people to let the judicial process run its course, “I urged people at the start of this to let the court make the decision because the court of public opinion has never had standing at a trial.” Justice Carroccia is expected to hand down her verdicts in this case on Thursday morning.
