LONDON 鈥� Prosecutors in the sexual assault trial of five hockey players argue that offering sex can be a form of appeasement and a normal response in a "highly stressful, unpredictable event."
In her final submissions to the judge, prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham said the complainant realized she found herself in an 鈥渆xtremely vulnerable and potentially dangerous situation鈥� when she came out of a hotel bathroom in London, Ont., and found a number of men in the room.
Cunningham argued the woman wasn't 鈥渓ogically thinking through鈥� her options at the time, and her evidence that she was acting on "autopilot" is essentially describing a trauma response.
A lawyer representing Michael McLeod argued earlier this week that the idea that someone would invite everyone in a room to have sex as a way to get out of a frightening situation is "preposterous," and that someone terrified would "do the minimum to avoid harm."
The Crown is arguing today that many of the submissions made by the defence require judging the complainant's behaviour based on assumptions about how someone in her situation would act.
Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Callan Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, while McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
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 inside the hotel room's bathroom without her consent, and Foote is accused of doing the splits over her face and "grazing" his genitals on it without her consent.
The five accused, now between the ages of 25 and 27, were all members of Canada's 2018 world junior hockey team. The events at the heart of the case took place as most of the team was in London for a series of events celebrating their victory at that year's championship.
The complainant first encountered some of the players at a downtown bar and eventually left with McLeod, court heard. They had sex in his hotel room, an encounter that is not part of the trial, court heard. The charges relate to what happened after several other teammates came into the room.
Consent is a central issue in the trial, which began in late April and has heard from nine witnesses.
The complainant testified over nine days, including seven under cross-examination from lawyers representing the accused players. Only one of the accused, Hart, took the stand in his own defence. People accused of crimes are not required to testify, not is the defence required to call evidence.
Defence lawyers made their closing submissions to the judge earlier this week, taking aim at the complainant's credibility and reliability as a witness and arguing she actively participated in the sexual activity that night.
Cunningham began her final pitch Wednesday afternoon, arguing McLeod invited his teammates into his room for group sexual activity without the complainant's knowledge or consent, which she said paints the evidence of all other witnesses in "a very different light."
Cunningham argued the woman did not voluntarily agree to the sexual acts that took place in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018, nor did the players take reasonable steps to confirm her consent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2025.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
