National

Defence lawyers continue submissions at hockey players' sex assault trial

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 Jun, 2025 11:30 AM

Defence lawyers for five former members of Canada's world junior hockey team are continuing to hammer at the credibility of the complainant as they make final submissions at the players' sexual assault trial.

A lawyer representing Alex Formenton is arguing that video evidence from the bar where the woman first encountered several of the players contradicts her testimony that she was plied with alcohol and separated from her friends, and that she was extremely intoxicated.

Daniel Brown has repeatedly argued the woman lied or embellished in her testimony, and that her account of what happened evolved over time.

Court heard submissions Monday from lawyers representing Michael McLeod and Carter Hart.

McLeod's lawyer, David Humphrey, argued the complainant has presented an "entirely unbelievable and unreliable" version of the events at the heart of the trial.

McLeod, Hart, Formenton and their former teammates Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have 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.

The charges relate to an encounter with a woman in a London, Ont., hotel room in June 2018, at a time when many of the team's members were in town for events celebrating their championship win.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nicole Osborne

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Dozens of criminal charges laid against 3 people in an alleged fraudulent bank-draft scheme

Dozens of criminal charges have been laid against three people in an alleged fraudulent bank-draft scheme that targeted vehicle businesses for what police say was about 850-thousand dollars in losses. R-C-M-P in Richmond say their officers began an investigation in January over allegations that forged bank drafts were used to purchase high-end vehicles, including B-M-W's, Mercedes-Benz and others valued at between 33-thousand and 103-thousand dollars.

Dozens of criminal charges laid against 3 people in an alleged fraudulent bank-draft scheme

4 arrested in drug trafficking investigation

Mounties in Burnaby say four people have been arrested and large amounts of drugs and cash have been seized following a four-month interprovincial drug trafficking investigation. They say officers executed two search warrants on properties in Coquitlam and Surrey and seized more than 95-hundred Hydromorphone pills believed to be diverted prescription pills, as well as other substances including more than a kilogram of suspected cocaine.

4 arrested in drug trafficking investigation

Freeland finds safety in numbers on digital sales tax

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland isn’t showing signs of worry that the U.S. can now launch a trade challenge against the Liberal government's controversial digital services tax. The Liberals are slapping a three-per-cent tax on the Canadian revenues of digital giants, which will affect major U.S. tech companies such as Google and Apple.

Freeland finds safety in numbers on digital sales tax

Lab confirms Canada's first case of avian flu infection in humans in B.C.

Canada's Public Health Agency has confirmed that a British Columbia teenager hospitalized last Friday is the country's first ever human case of domestically acquired avian flu. The agency said in a statement Wednesday that testing at Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg confirms the teen did contract the H5N1 avian flu, the same strain related to viruses found in B.C. flocks in an ongoing outbreak at poultry farms.

Lab confirms Canada's first case of avian flu infection in humans in B.C.

Tributes to John Horgan as B.C. New Democrat members are sworn in

Former British Columbia premier John Horgan loomed large over the swearing-in ceremony Wednesday for 47 New Democrat members of the legislature, a day after his death. Dick said Horgan was a "friend of the people," while Legislature Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd paid tribute to Horgan for his service to the people of B.C.

Tributes to John Horgan as B.C. New Democrat members are sworn in

Build vaccine stockpile, use wastewater testing for H5N1 bird flu, experts urge

Health Canada has authorized three influenza vaccines that could be used if bird flu became a pandemic, the agency says. The federal government also has an agreement with vaccine manufacturer GSK for domestic vaccine production that could be accelerated if needed, the Public Health Agency of Canada told The Canadian Press in an email.