Content warning: This story includes allegations of sexual assault.
During the trial of five former NHL players accused of sexual assault, a group chat among 11 members of the 2018 Canadian world juniors team was presented as evidence. Court heard that players discussed the alleged incident from June 19, 2018, within this chat before speaking with investigators from Hockey Canada.
Messages from the group chat, introduced via Tyler Steenbergen`s phone, revealed the players` coordination. Michael McLeod wrote, “We all need to say the same thing if we get interviewed can’t have different stories or make anything up.”
The group chat included former team members Carter Hart, Jake Bean, Cal Foote, Dillon Dube, Maxime Comtois, Drake Batherson, Brett Howden, Sam Steel, Alex Formenton, Michael McLeod, and Tyler Steenbergen.
Jake Bean`s messages in the chat included claims about the interaction: “Like we don’t need to make anything up. No one did anything wrong. We went to that room to eat. The girl came, she wanted to have sex with all of us. No one did. … and then we got out of the room when things got too crazy.” Bean also referenced a video, stating, “And Mikey literally has a video giving her consent.”
Assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers read many of the messages during Steenbergen`s testimony, delivered via Zoom.
The complainant, identified in court as “E.M.” due to a publication ban, concluded her nine days of testimony the previous day.
Another message from Dillon Dube in the group chat read: “Let’s not make her sound too crazy because if she gets wind of this and then she can get even more angry and we don’t need that so just be good about it but the truth with it.”
Michael McLeod faces two sexual assault charges, including one related to aiding in the offence. Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, and Carter Hart are each charged with one count of sexual assault. All five players have entered not guilty pleas to their respective charges.
The jury`s proceedings were unexpectedly cut short on Thursday. The trial before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is anticipated to resume Friday morning.
