The five former Hockey Canada players who were accused of sexual assault by a woman stemming from an incident in a London, Ontario hotel room in June 2018, have been found not guilty by an Ontario federal judge today.
The five players; Carter Hart, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Michael McLeod, were accused of sexually assaulting a woman–known in court proceedings as E.M.--were acquitted of their charges after Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said she did not find the complainant’s testimony “credible or reliable.”
The verdict concludes a trial that started eight weeks ago, and included two jury dismissals that resulted in the continuation of the trial under a judge-only ruling. The trial itself ended six weeks ago.
Carroccia stated earlier in the day that she didn’t find the testimony of the complainant to be credible and outlined the arguments from both the defense and the Crown and spent hours recounting all the evidence that had been heard, focusing specifically on the discrepancies between E.M.’s testimony during the trial this year and the civil lawsuit that was brought forward in 2022, before giving her ruling.
Justice Carroccia ruled that the Crown did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the complainant didn’t consent to the sexual activity with the five players.
--With files from the Canadian Press.
