Trial previously delayed twice, slated to now run from Feb. 5-16
Guillaume Donovan and David Foucher, two former University of Ottawa hockey players, are currently on trial in Thunder Bay for allegedly sexually assaulting a Lakehead University student in February 2014.
Slated to run from Feb. 5 to Feb. 16, the trial is currently on its fifth day, and both defendants pleaded not guilty in response to the charges. This comes after the trial was delayed twice following the initial charges.
Court is back and the witness, the alleged victim or complainant (AV from now on) is about to testify. WARNING content may be disturbing, related to sexual assault charges.
— Matthew Kupfer CBC (@matthewkupfer) February 8, 2018
The CBC reported that the Crown’s first witness is a former player on the hockey team who shared a hotel room with Donovan on Feb. 1, 2014, the weekend of an away game in Thunder Bay against the Lakehead University Thunderwolves.
ICYMI | The complainant in the sexual assault trial of 2 former members of the uOttawa men’s hockey team began testifying yesterday: https://t.co/QSKrAdp7ZQ via @matthewkupfer
(Warning: this story includes graphic details some readers may find disturbing).
— CBC Ottawa (@CBCOttawa) February 9, 2018
According to the CBC, under cross-examination on Feb. 7, the witness, who is protected under publication ban so as to not identify the complainant, claimed that he met her via Tinder while in Thunder Bay.
The witness said that they met at a local bar and went back to the team’s hotel room. The witness claimed that the complainant was the first to approach him at the bar after messaging on Tinder, and believed the main use of dating app was to “hook up.”
AV says she told Witness 1 that she and her friends were going to a particular bar via Tinder message. Witness told her the Gee-Gees were going there too. She saw him when she arrived and they waved at each other.
— Matthew Kupfer CBC (@matthewkupfer) February 8, 2018
However, during their sexual encounter at the hotel, the witness claimed that Donovan entered their room through a door that connected to the room next door, where teammates were also staying.
AV has resumed testimony describing the events where sex she said was non-consensual happened in the hotel room. Spoke with slight quiver in voice, eyes forward.
— Matthew Kupfer CBC (@matthewkupfer) February 8, 2018
The complainant alleged that this is when two men from the Gee-Gees hockey team came in and started to have a nonconsensual sexual encounter with her.
She testified that she remembers turning to the Crown witness and saying that she “did not want this,” but the man who allegedly began nonconsensually having sex with her, identified as the witness’ roommate, told her to “just do it.”
The Crown witness claimed that he left the room when Donovan entered, calling it “awkward.”
New information presented on Wednesday revealed that the witness had kept screenshots on his laptop of text messages exchanged between him and the complainant after the alleged assault, the CBC reports.
The screenshots have been given to the Crown and the defence for evaluation.
The case will resume on Monday, Feb. 12 in Thunder Bay. For live updates, you can follow the CBC’s Matthew Kupfer on Twitter.
