Content warning: This story includes allegations of sexual assault.
LONDON, Ont. — The complainant in the sexual assault trial for five former NHL players sat for a second day of cross-examination from the defence on Tuesday.
The woman, known as “E.M.” in court documents because of a publication ban on identifying her, testified from elsewhere in the courthouse via CCTV.
E.M. said she consented to having sex with Michael McLeod after they left Jack’s bar and went to his room at the Delta Armouries in the early hours of June 19, 2018. However, she disagreed with the contention by lawyer David Humphrey, who represents McLeod, that she told McLeod after sex to “get some of those guys back here, I want to have a wild night.”
“That doesn’t sound like something I would say and I don’t remember saying those words,” E.M. said during cross-examination of her testimony from Monday.
She disagreed with Humphrey when he said she was flirting with two players who came into the room after she had sex with McLeod, saying that was “not something I would do.”
After more men came into the room and she got onto a bedsheet on the floor, Humphrey questioned why she did what they told her to.
“I was scared, naked, drunk, vulnerable, and lying on the ground,” she said. “The men were towering over me.”
Humphrey also challenged E.M. on why her statement to London Police Service Det. Stephen Newton on June 22, 2018, seemed inconsistent with her statement as part of a lawsuit filed against Hockey Canada in 2022. In particular, he asked her why she didn’t use the word “scared” in her initial police report.
“It was not being sure how to explain something like that to a man,” she said. “The easier way for me was to get my words out … and it was really uncomfortable to do. … I hadn’t fully processed that fear.
“I was really trying to bottle this up.
“I don’t think I wanted to admit what happened was as bad as it was.”
“It took you years to process that you were scared in the room?” Humphrey asked.
“Yes. I think anyone would be intimidated in that situation,” E.M. replied.
Humphrey asked why she didn’t just leave the room when she was leaving the nearby washroom, fully clothed, when she had the opportunity.
“They would see that I was crying and try to console me and tell me everything was fine. They would put an arm around me, lead me back to the bedsheet, and I would get undressed,” she said.
“You make it seem like you had no choice,” Humphrey said.
“I didn’t feel like I had a choice, no,” E.M. replied.
She also said she didn’t know who the group of men were when she met them at Jack’s bar on the night of June 18, 2018.
“When I was at the bar, I did not know these people were hockey players,” she told Humphrey. “By the end of the night, I just knew I was with a group of guys who were staying at the Delta and playing golf the next day.”
McLeod, 27, has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, including one relating to aiding in the offence. Dillon Dube, 26, Cal Foote, 26, Alex Formenton, 25, and Carter Hart, 26, have each been charged with one count of sexual assault. All have pleaded not guilty to their charges.
For the third straight morning of the trial, demonstrators stood outside the courtroom entrance, holding signs in support of victims of violence and E.M.
Cross-examination of E.M.’s testimony is expected to continue on Wednesday.
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