Judge judges in the ice hockey process: Who is guilty of sexual assault?

Judge judges in the ice hockey process: Who is guilty of sexual assault?

London, Ontario, Kanada - The current developments in the sexual offense process against five former members of the Canadian U20 ice hockey team, including Michael Mcleod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Footen, cause excitement. On July 24, 2025, a judge in Ontario announced his judgment, which is based on an incident that was in a hotel room in London, Ontario in the night of June 19, 2018. All defendants did not guilty, which further complicated to deal with these tragic events.

The alleged victim, E. M., had their say. Her statement showed that she had experienced numerous attacks during the incident that was characterized by one night of celebration. E. M. reported that she initially had mutual sex with McLeod before it came to an attack by several players. Despite their attempts to leave the hotel room, their efforts were prevented by the players, which intensified their feeling of fainting and shaped the controversy of that night. According to her statements, there were discussions among the players about the sexual acts, and McLeod even pushed them to say in front of a camera that everything was mutually agreed.

insights into the negotiation

like Elliot Lake Today reported both the arguments of defense as well as the defense Prosecutor's office together. While the defense emphasized that the videos show the approval of the complainant and that her statements were inconsistent, the public prosecutor questioned the credibility of the accused. In particular, reference was made to text messages that pointed out to work with the accused in order to construct a story about the events.

Carter Hart was the only one of the five defendants who said in his own defense. He explained that he had been drunk and remembered details that the complainant strongly refuted. E. M. showed videos that were presented as evidence and were described by her as not authentic for her feelings at that time. It was also noted that E. M. only informed the police after a hint of her mother.

public support and protest

The process took place in a fully occupied courtroom, which underlines the social relevance of this case. Supporters of E. M. gathered before the court to demonstrate their solidarity with surviving sexual assault. This shows how important public perception and support is in such complex cases.

The debate about sexualized violence in sport is not new, but it gains through processes like this additional explosiveness. In a case study on sexualized violence in sport it becomes clear that the processing of such incidents in the sports world is urgently necessary. The case is expected to continue for several weeks, whereby the expectations of a fair and fair judgment are high.