Defence lawyers for one of five hockey players accused of sexual assault suggested Tuesday that the complainant was the one to bring up calling other players into a hotel room in June 2018 because she wanted to have a "wild night."
David Humphrey, who represents Michael McLeod, suggested during cross-examination that the woman wanted to keep the night going after having sex with McLeod and discussed having some of his friends come to the room "to have some fun."
"I'm going to suggest that Mr. McLeod asked you if you were serious and if that's what you really wanted and that you said yes, it was," Humphrey said.
"I don't recall having any conversation about this, and then just feeling really surprised when people did walk in," the woman, now 27, replied.
"That doesn't sound like anything I would usually say and I don't remember saying those words," she said in response to a similar question.
The woman, who cannot be identified under a standard publication ban, told the court Monday she was naked and scared when men started coming into the room. She described feeling "numb" and on "autopilot," and like she had to go along with what the men in the room wanted her to do.
McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault. McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
Court has heard the five accused and many of their teammates were in London, Ont., for a few days in June 2018 to attend events marking their championship win.
The complainant's initial sexual encounter with McLeod alone in the hotel room is not part of the trial. Jurors have heard the charges relate to what's alleged to have happened in the room after others arrived.
Prosecutors allege the players did what they wanted to the complainant without taking steps to ensure she was voluntarily consenting to those sexual acts.
McLeod, Hart and Dube are accused of obtaining oral sex from the woman without her consent, and Dube is also accused of slapping her buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with someone else.
Formenton is alleged to have had vaginal sex with the complainant without her consent inside the bathroom. Foote is alleged to have done the splits over her face and grazed his genitals on it without her consent.
The Crown alleges McLeod also vaginally penetrated her without her consent at the end of the night.
Lawyers for the other players will also have the chance to cross-examine the complainant, who is appearing by CCTV from another room in the courthouse.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2025.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
