EDITOR’S NOTE: This story comprises particulars which may be disturbing. Reader discretion is suggested.
An lively NHL participant testified Wednesday on the high-profile sexual assault trial involving 5 former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team.
Washington Capitals ahead Taylor Raddysh testified remotely he was the one who took a screenshot of a gaggle chat on the centre of the trial, which allegedly contained what Crown prosecutors are arguing was an invitation to have non-consensual group intercourse with a girl in a London, Ont., resort room in June 2018.
Raddysh stated he didn’t bear in mind when the message, which the Crown alleges was despatched by Michael McLeod, got here in or when he first noticed it.
McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote, have all pleaded not responsible to sexual assault. McLeod has additionally pleaded not responsible to an extra cost of being a celebration to the offence of sexual assault.
Raddysh stated he recalled little or no from that evening, when lots of the staff’s members have been on the town for a gala celebrating the staff’s gold-medal win at that yr’s championship, even after reviewing transcripts from interviews he had with police in 2022 and legal professionals in 2018.
He was anticipated to proceed his testimony Thursday, however the jury has been despatched house as a consequence of an sickness.
‘I can’t do that proper now’
Other than Raddysh’s testimony, a series of videos taken the evening of the alleged group sexual assault have been performed in court docket Wednesday.
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The movies, together with one involving the feminine complainant, have been taken within the early morning hours of June 19, 2018, on the Delta resort and have been proven in fast succession.
In a single video taken at 4:26 a.m., a younger lady could be seen holding a white towel towards her physique, smiling and looking out into the digital camera.
“It was all consensual,” she stated, earlier than asking if she was being filmed.
“You’re so paranoid…. I loved it,” she stated, including, “I’m so sober, that’s why I can’t do that proper now.”
In one other video, taken about an hour earlier, somebody asks the girl twice if she is “OK with this.” Each instances she agrees.
Crown prosecutors had referred to the movies, which they allege have been taken by McLeod, in their opening submissions to the jury on Monday.
The Crown has stated the complainant agreed to have intercourse with McLeod in his resort room after assembly him at a downtown bar earlier within the evening. In her opening remarks to the brand new jury on Monday, prosecutor Heather Donkers alleged McLeod began inviting different folks into his resort room afterwards.
Donkers added that the Crown plans to argue the movies aren’t proof that the complainant, who can’t be recognized underneath a publication ban, did in reality, consent.
Jurors have been additionally proven Wednesday a screenshot of a gaggle chat, captured round 2:10 a.m. that day by Raddysh.
In it, McLeod asks if anybody desires to be in a “three-way,” then follows up together with his resort room quantity and Hart replies, “I’m in.”
The Crown is alleging as many as 10 folks have been current in some unspecified time in the future. It was then that a number of sexual acts occurred with out the girl’s voluntary consent, the prosecution alleges.
Raddysh stated he remembers seeing McLeod and one other teammate, Boris Katchouk, in McLeod’s resort room with a girl, however couldn’t recall how the girl was positioned or if she was carrying garments. He stated he couldn’t bear in mind how lengthy he stayed within the room, or why he left.
Raddysh was additionally requested about one other collection of screenshots displaying what he stated have been textual content messages between him and McLeod.
In a single, taken June 19, 2018, at 2:15 a.m., McLeod allegedly instructed Raddysh to return to his room if he needed a “gummer.” Raddysh instructed the court docket he understood that to imply “oral intercourse.” He didn’t seem to answer to the message.
One other screenshot, dated June 26 at 1:57 p.m., included two messages from Raddysh to McLeod.
“Bully simply known as me,” one stated, adopted by, “Stated there’s an investigation.”
Raddysh instructed the court docket he was referring to a Hockey Canada employees member and that he understood the investigation to narrate to “that evening in London.”
— With recordsdata from The Canadian Press
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