‘This is a case about consent,’ Crown says to open sexual assault trial of ex-world junior hockey players

The evidence likely won’t match up with expectations of what we think a sexual assault does or doesn’t look like, Donkers says.

You have to leave behind your biases and preconceived notions about what you think sexual assault is, says Donkers.

Court will hear that E.M., 20 at the time, was at Jack’s bar with friends. That same night, the Canadian world junior hockey team had been to a gala and then went to Jack’s. A few of the players chatted up E.M., including McLeod. E.M. got separated from her friends and started dancing with McLeod.

The jury will see surveillance video from Jack’s that night, and they’ll see Dubé and McLeod dancing with E.M. She had about eight drinks at the bar and others were also drinking.

McLeod and E.M. left the bar and went to the Delta hotel, where McLeod and his teammates were staying. They had sex, and that’s not at issue. But soon after that, “the atmosphere in the room changed.”