Content warning: This story includes allegations of sexual assault.
A group chat including 11 members of the 2018 Canadian world juniors team revealed the players discussed the alleged incident of June 19, 2018, before they talked to investigators with Hockey Canada, court heard Thursday in the trial of five former NHLers accused of sexual assault.
“We all need to say the same thing if we get interviewed can’t have different stories or make anything up,” Michael McLeod wrote in a text to the group chat introduced as evidence from Tyler Steenbergen’s phone on Thursday.
On the group chat are former members of the 2018 team Carter Hart, Jake Bean, Cal Foote, Dillon Dube, Maxime Comtois, Drake Batherson, Brett Howden, Sam Steel, Alex Formenton, McLeod and Steenbergen.
“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 writes later in a text in the group chat. “And Mikey literally has a video giving her consent.”
Assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers read out many of the 134 viable messages to the court during testimony by Steenbergen, who was appearing for the second day via Zoom conferencing from Sylvan Lake, Alberta.
The complainant in the case, known as “E.M.” because of a publication ban on her name, completed her testimony on Wednesday after nine days on the stand.
Wrote Dube in the group chat: “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.”
McLeod has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, including one relating to aiding in the offence. Dube, Foote, Formenton and Hart have each been charged with one count of sexual assault. All have pleaded not guilty to their charges.
The jury was unexpectedly dismissed early on Thursday. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice trial is expected to resume Friday morning.
