5 former Canada players

An Ontario judge acquitted five former members of the World Junior Hockey team in Canada on Thursday in his case of sexual assaultsaying that the plaintiff’s accusations lacked the credibility necessary to justify the charges.

The judge of the Superior Court, Maria Carroccia, said that prosecutors could not fulfill the responsibility for the proof of charges against Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foot.

The identities of the players became public when they were charged at the beginning of 2024. At that time, four of them played at the NHL – Dube for Calgary flames, Hart for the Flyadelfia and McLeod and Foot Flyers for the New Jersey Devils. Formenton had previously played for Ottawa senators before joining a Swiss team. They all continued Indefinite license And none is on a NHL list or has an active contract with a team in the league.

The five players declared themselves of sexual assault in a meeting that took place in a London Hotel Hall, Ontario, in the early hours of June 19, 2018. Years of speculation regarding the accusations, fueled by an agreement of demands, parliamentary audiences and revived investigations of the police and Canada hockey, together with a NHL investigation, all the demands prior to an excess of an excess of an excess. of exams that include a Mister of the Mister of the Mister of the Mister. jury, leaving the verdict to body.

Carroccia explained his reasoning for the absolute in detail in the course of five hours, highlighting the “trend of the plaintiff to blame others” for inconsistencies in his accusations. He also said that the woman did everything possible to point out that she was really drunk during the course of the night, but that is not supported by a surveillance video of a bar and hotel that night and the testimony of others.

McLeod was also acquitted, and declared himself innocent, for a separate position of being part of the crime, an unusual application of a position that looks more typically in cases of murder.

The players, who are now between 25 and 27 years old, were in London at that time for a gala and golf tournament marking their victory in the championship.

The woman declared in May that she was naked, drunk and scared when four of the men appeared unexpectedly in her room at the Delta Hotel London Armories and felt that the only “safe” option was to do what they wanted. The prosecutors argued that the players did what they wanted without taking measures to ensure that she was voluntarily consented to sexual acts.

“I made the decision to dance with them and drink at the bar, I did not make the decision to make what they did at the hotel,” he testified.

The defense lawyers interrogated her for days and suggested that she actively participated or started sexual activity because she wanted a “wild night.” In the Court two short videos of the plaintiff took by McLeod were played on the night of the meeting. In one, the woman says she was “all consensual”, although he told court that it was not like he really felt.

The protesters gathered outside a London court on Thursday morning, maintaining signs that indicated support for the plaintiff.

News and other news organizations do not identify the accusers of sexual aggression unless they have granted permission to do so, what she does not have.

The public did not know the accusations for years. The police closed their initial investigation without charges in early 2019, but the plaintiff demanded Hockey Canada in 2022. The organization resolved the lawsuit amid an intense scrutiny that cost him sponsors, but the police reopened his investigation.

The NHL launched its own investigation in 2022. The officials promised to publish the findings, although Commissioner Gary Bettman said in February that it would depend on what the League could say given the legal procedures.

• Hockey
• Canada