Canada hockey rape case: Prosecutors failed to prove charges: Court

The Superior Court of Canada on Thursday ruled in the rape case against five professional hockey players that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.

The judge said the prosecution had failed to prove that the five professional Canadian hockey players committed sexual assault and that the evidence provided by the female accused was not “credible or reliable.”
Superior Court Judge Maria Caruccia told a packed courtroom, “When I found that I could not rely on (the plaintiff’s) testimony and then looked at all the evidence in this case as a whole, I concluded that the prosecution failed to meet its burden of proof on any charge.”
The sexual assault case against five professional ice hockey players has rocked Canada’s national game.

The defendants, who previously played in the National Hockey League, are accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a hotel in June 2018 after a celebration celebrating Canada’s national junior team’s victory.
Michael McLeod, Alex Formentin, Dylan Dubey, Carter Hart and Callen Foote have denied any wrongdoing and have maintained that the victim, whose identity has been withheld, consented to various sexual acts.

The victim, who was 20 at the time, met Michael McLeod at a bar in London, Ontario, before they had a sexual relationship.
This first incident is not the subject of discussion in the case, but the subsequent incidents are part of the case.

The prosecution argued that the players performed sexual acts on the woman without ensuring her consent.

Defense lawyers said that the woman participated voluntarily and later made allegations of sexual assault out of remorse.
Criminal cases in Canada are usually decided by jury, however, after two juries were dismissed, this case was moved to a judge-only hearing.

Legal definition of consent

No charges were laid in the initial police investigation.
However, a media investigation later revealed that Hockey Canada, the governing body, had paid the victim $3.55 million Canadian ($2.6 million US) in out-of-court settlements from membership fees paid by ordinary families. The revelation led to the resignation of Hockey Canada’s leadership.Under the new police chief, London police reopened the investigation, led by a female investigating officer with experience in sexual assault cases.