Canada Junior team trial: “I can’t find the proof provided by the complainant credible or reliable,” said the judge

The judge began on Thursday morning, reading his highly anticipated judgment in the case of the five former team players Junior accused of having sexually assaulted a young woman in a hotel room by highlighting the weakness of the evidence presented before her.

“I can’t find the proof provided by EM [la plaignante] Credible or reliable, ”dropped judge Maria Carroccia immediately fall.

She then added that “the crown was not discharged from its obligation to prove out of any reasonable doubt” the accusations.

At that time, some accused seemed to sigh in relief in the room and turned to their family.

The Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex formenton, Cal Foteon and Dillon Dubé hockey players are each in front of an accusation for having sexually assaulted a woman who was 20 years old, at the end of a watered evening in June 2018.

McLeod also faces an additional accusation of complicity in sexual assault.

The players were then in London on the sidelines of a gala evening organized to underline their conquest of the gold medal at the World Junior Hockey Championship, a few months ago.

Consent

Judge Carroccia then reviewed the testimony of the complainant, stressing as many inconsistencies between the versions given to the police, in Hockey Canada and during the trial.

The magistrate also returned to two consent videos filmed in the early morning by McLeod. The complainant who can only be appointed by the initials EM “showed no sign of intoxication” and “had no difficulty in speaking,” she said.

During the trial, the young woman explained that she had adopted an “attitude of porn star” to pass through and that no one had forced her physically. But the number of men present and the atmosphere in the room had given her the impression that she had no choice.

“My mind just disconnected,” she said.

Thursday morning, nearly a hundred supporters of the alleged victim were in front of the courthouse, brandishing signs. Their slogans have become stronger as the five accused and their lawyers entered the court.

Men were also present to display their support for the accused. “Stay strong,” shouted one of them, said the CBC media.

An appropriate counter-examination

Recall that the notion of consent was found at the heart of the highly publicized trial. The complainant had testified for nine days in total. The judge, however, ruled that the long counter-examination “was fully appropriate”.

The judge also argued that this case “does not raise questions relating to the reformulation of the legal concept of consent”.

“Consent [de la plaignante] was not influenced by fear, “she said.

In its final pleadings, the crown had deplored the fact that the opposing party used “myths and stereotypes” to try to discredit its story and that it was practically criticized for not having acted as the “perfect victim”.

Defense wanted to demonstrate that it would have been consenting. Throughout the trial, players present in the room came to tell that it was rather she who begged them to have sex.