A defence lawyer for one of five ex-world junior hockey teammates on trial for sexual assault is suggesting a woman made allegations against them because she thought her boyfriend would leave her if she told him she'd had "group sex with a bunch of hockey players."
Megan Savard, one of the lawyers representing Carter Hart, suggested during cross-examination that the complainant's boyfriend sympathized with her and didn't consider it cheating because she told him it was not consensual.
She suggested the woman left out that she was "actively participating" in the sexual activity and "thought it was consensual at the time" when she told her boyfriend, now fiancé, about what happened.
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The woman said she was honest with her boyfriend about what happened that night in June 2018 and took responsibility for her initial sexual encounter with Michael McLeod, which is not part of the trial.
She denied ever thinking the rest of the night was consensual, adding she didn't feel like an active participant because she felt "numb" and detached from her body.
McLeod, Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in connection with the June 2018 encounter. McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
The complainant previously testified that she was naked and scared when men started coming into a hotel room after she'd had sex with McLeod, and that she felt she had no choice but to go along with what they wanted her to do.
On Tuesday, one of the lawyers representing McLeod suggested the complainant asked to bring other players into the hotel room, and later invited those men to have sex with her.
The woman, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, said she had no recollection of saying those things, and they did not sound like things she would say.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.
