Tuesday, February 3, 2026
ADVT 
National

'It was all consensual,' woman says in video shown at hockey players' trial

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 30 Apr, 2025 11:19 AM
  • 'It was all consensual,' woman says in video shown at hockey players' trial

Holding a white towel against her body, a young woman smiles and looks into the camera.

"It was all consensual," she says before asking if she's being filmed.

"You are so paranoid ... I enjoyed it," she adds. "I am so sober that’s why I can’t do this right now.”

The short video, taken at the Delta hotel in London, Ont., at 4:26 a.m. on June 19, 2018, was one of a series of clips shownin quick succession Wednesday at the trial of Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote.

The five accused, who were on Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team, 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.

In another video, taken about an hour earlier, someone asks the woman twice if she is "OK with this." Both times, she agrees.

Prosecutors had referred to the videos, which they said were taken by McLeod, in their opening submissions to the jury on Monday. 

At the time, prosecutor Heather Donkers urged jurors to listen carefully to the complainant's testimony later in the trialregarding "what was happening before and during the recording of these videos." 

Donkers added the Crown plans to argue the videos are not evidence that the complainant did, in fact, consent.

Jurors were also shown Wednesday a screenshot of a group chat between members of the world junior team around 2:10 a.m. that day. In it, McLeod asks if anyone wants to be in a "three-way," then follows up with his hotel room number and Hart replies, "I'm in."

Prosecutors allege the complainant went with McLeod to his hotel room after they met at a downtown bar earlier in the night. Several members of the team were there after attending a Hockey Canada gala, court has heard.

At the hotel, McLeod and the complainant had sex — an encounter that is not part of the trial, court heard. 

Afterward, McLeod invited others into the room, with as many as 10 present at some point, the Crown alleges. In the hours that followed, a number of sexual acts took place without the woman's voluntary consent, the prosecution alleges.

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

The Crown alleges McLeod, Hart and Dube obtained oral sex from the complainant without her consent at some point during the night, and that Dube slapped the complainant's buttocks without her consent while she was engaged in a sexual act with someone else.

Formenton is alleged to have had vaginal sex with the complainant in the bathroom without her consent. Foote allegedly did the splits over the complainant's face while she lay on the ground, grazing his genitals over her face, without her consent.

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 the complainant knowing she had not consented.

Also on Wednesday, court watched security video from the lobby of the hotel and from the bar where some of the playersand the complainant were earlier that evening.

The complainant, who was 20 at the time, cannot be identified under a standard publication ban.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nicole Osborne

MORE National ARTICLES

Alberta, nurses union reach four-year deal, pay increases up to 20 per cent

Alberta, nurses union reach four-year deal, pay increases up to 20 per cent
Alberta's nurses union has signed a four-year contract with the province after months of bargaining and mediation.

Alberta, nurses union reach four-year deal, pay increases up to 20 per cent

Double blow as S&P and Moody's downgrade B.C.'s credit rating again, citing deficit

Double blow as S&P and Moody's downgrade B.C.'s credit rating again, citing deficit
Credit rating agencies S&P and Moody's have both downgraded British Columbia's rating on the same day, citing the province's ballooning deficit and the apparent lack of a plan to dig the province out of its fiscal hole.

Double blow as S&P and Moody's downgrade B.C.'s credit rating again, citing deficit

Eby says Indigenous teen shouldn't have died' as B.C. government is grilled over care

Eby says Indigenous teen shouldn't have died' as B.C. government is grilled over care
A teenager who was found blocks from her group home on a cold January night this year "shouldn't have died" British Columbia Premier David Eby said, adding that her death represented a "failure."

Eby says Indigenous teen shouldn't have died' as B.C. government is grilled over care

Trump's tariffs will fundamentally change global trading system: Carney

Trump's tariffs will fundamentally change global trading system: Carney
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Donald Trump's tariff regime will "fundamentally change the global trading system" after the U.S. president exempted Canada from his so-called "liberation day" tariff list unveiled on Wednesday.

Trump's tariffs will fundamentally change global trading system: Carney

Critically endangered sunflower sea stars are seeking refuge in B.C. fiords

Critically endangered sunflower sea stars are seeking refuge in B.C. fiords
Alyssa Gehman vividly recalls seeing starfish for the first time while on a kayaking trip in British Columbia's Desolation Sound in Grade 8. 

Critically endangered sunflower sea stars are seeking refuge in B.C. fiords

Whales migrations changed as seas warmed. But can they keep pace with climate change?

Whales migrations changed as seas warmed. But can they keep pace with climate change?
The Canadian lead author of a new study on the migration of humpback whales is sounding the alarm on how climate change could spell trouble for the species.

Whales migrations changed as seas warmed. But can they keep pace with climate change?