EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains details that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.
An active NHL player testified Wednesday at the high-profile sexual assault trial involving five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team.
Washington Capitals forward Taylor Raddysh testified remotely he was the one who took a screenshot of a group chat at the centre of the trial, which allegedly contained what Crown prosecutors are arguing was an invite to have non-consensual group sex with a woman in a London, Ont., hotel room in June 2018.
Raddysh said he didn’t remember when the message, which the Crown alleges was sent by Michael McLeod, came in or when he first saw it.
McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote, have all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault. McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
Raddysh said he recalled very little from that night, when many of the team’s members were in town for a gala celebrating the team’s gold-medal win at that year’s championship, even after reviewing transcripts from interviews he had with police in 2022 and lawyers in 2018.
He was expected to continue his testimony Thursday, but the jury has been sent home due to an illness.
‘I can’t do this right now’
Aside from Raddysh’s testimony, a series of videos taken the night of the alleged group sexual assault were played in court Wednesday.
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The videos, including one involving the female complainant, were taken in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018, at the Delta hotel and were shown in quick succession.
In one video taken at 4:26 a.m., a young woman can be seen holding a white towel against her body, smiling and looking into the camera.
“It was all consensual,” she said, before asking if she was being filmed.
“You are so paranoid…. I enjoyed it,” she said, adding, “I am so sober, that’s why I can’t do this right now.”
In another video, taken about an hour earlier, someone asks the woman twice if she is “OK with this.” Both times she agrees.
Crown prosecutors had referred to the videos, which they allege were taken by McLeod, in their opening submissions to the jury on Monday.
The Crown has said the complainant agreed to have sex with McLeod in his hotel room after meeting him at a downtown bar earlier in the night. In her opening remarks to the new jury on Monday, prosecutor Heather Donkers alleged McLeod started inviting other people into his hotel room afterwards.
Donkers added that the Crown plans to argue the videos are not evidence that the complainant, who can’t be identified under a publication ban, did in fact, consent.
Jurors were also shown Wednesday a screenshot of a group chat, captured around 2:10 a.m. that day by Raddysh.
In it, McLeod asks if anyone wants to be in a “three-way,” then follows up with his hotel room number and Hart replies, “I’m in.”
The Crown is alleging as many as 10 people were present at some point. It was then that several sexual acts took place without the woman’s voluntary consent, the prosecution alleges.
Raddysh said he remembers seeing McLeod and another teammate, Boris Katchouk, in McLeod’s hotel room with a woman, but couldn’t recall how the woman was positioned or if she was wearing clothes. He said he could not remember how long he stayed in the room, or why he left.
Raddysh was also asked about another series of screenshots showing what he said were text messages between him and McLeod.
In one, taken June 19, 2018, at 2:15 a.m., McLeod allegedly told Raddysh to come to his room if he wanted a “gummer.” Raddysh told the court he understood that to mean “oral sex.” He did not appear to reply to the message.
Another screenshot, dated June 26 at 1:57 p.m., included two messages from Raddysh to McLeod.
“Bully just called me,” one said, followed by, “Said there’s an investigation.”
Raddysh told the court he was referring to a Hockey Canada staff member and that he understood the investigation to relate to “that night in London.”
— With files from The Canadian Press
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