Five former members of the 2018 Junior Junior Hockey Team of Canada were acquitted of all the accusations Thursday in a sexual assault in London, Ontario.
The judge of the Superior Court, Maria Carroccia, of the Ontario Court of Justice, said that she had not found proof of the complainant “credible or reliable”.
“I cannot count on the evidence of (the accuser), then considering the evidence in this trial as a whole, I conclude that the crown cannot respond to any of the counts before me,” said Carroccia.
Carter Hart, Cal Fote, Dillon Dube, Alex formenton and Michael McLeod were accused of sexual assault in connection with an incident in a London hotel in June 2018. McLeod also faced a second party accusation. He was also found guilty.
The accuser allegedly allegedly accompanied McLeod to the hotel. She argued that McLeod invited her teammates to her room, then joined the players in an alleged sexual assault for several hours.
Carroccia cited videos filmed by MCLAOD in which the woman said that the events of the hotel room were “completely consensual”. The judge also noted that she had consensual sex with at least one of the players before that night.
“In this case, I found real consent not flawed by fear,” said Carroccia.
The news Thursday comes after Carroccia previously declared a trial and rejected two distinct juries. These decisions finally left the accusations to be judged by the judge.
Form is a former NHL striker currently playing in Switzerland, while the other four were active NHL players who had taken paid conyle from their teams. Their respective teams separated in June 2024 by not giving them qualification offers, making them free agents.
McLeod, 27, played for the New Jersey Devils, while Hart, 26, was a goalkeeper No. 1 for the Philadelphia flyers.
Dube, 27, played with the Flames and Fote de Calgary, 26, played for three NHL teams, mainly recently The Devils.
– field level media
