Police in Canada have apologized to a woman who says she was the victim of an alleged sexual assault, admitting they failed to fully collect evidence in a closely watched case involving five professional ice hockey players.
Last week, the NHL’s Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube and Cal Foote, and Alex Formenton, who plays in Europe, were charged with sexual assault. McLeod is facing an additional charge of sexual assault for “being a party to the offence”. None of the accused entered a plea on Monday in court but their lawyers have previously denied any wrongdoing on behalf of their clients.
The charges stem from a previous lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges she was assaulted in a hotel room in June 2018 by some members of the Canadian junior team after a gala celebrating their world championship gold medal.
On Monday, police in London, Ontario, apologized for a six-year delay in the case, which they had initially closed citing “insufficient grounds” to lay charges.
“I want to extend, on behalf of the London police service, my sincerest apology to the [alleged] victim, to her family, for the amount of time that it has taken to reach this point,” said Chief Thai Truong of the London Police. “As a police officer working in this space for many, many years I can tell you that this is a difficult, difficult situation for all victims [and] survivors of sexual violence.”
Police initially opened an investigation into the alleged assault in 2018, but closed it months later. After immense public scrutiny, however, the police reopened the case in 2022.
Truong said it was “completely inappropriate” to explain why there was a long delay in reopening the investigation, over fears it could “jeopardize” the case against the five men. He said new evidence and information collected since the case was reopened led to the charges and he had the “utmost confidence” in the investigation team.
Hockey Canada and the NHL both launched their own investigations parallel to that of the police. At the time the NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, said findings from the league’s investigation would be “transparent”. But last week he said the NHL wouldn’t release its findings until after the court proceedings were complete.
The case is part of a broader scandal that has rocked the sport and Hockey Canada, the governing body in Canada.
In the years after the police closed their investigation, the woman filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against Hockey Canada, as well as against the Canadian Hockey League and eight players. Reporting from TSN found the claim had been settled for an undisclosed amount.
In 2022, Hockey Canada executives told a parliamentary committee that the organization had secretly paid nearly C$9m (US$6.6m) to 21 complainants of sexual misconduct. Reporting by national media outlets later revealed that young players across the country had unknowingly funded most of those payments through their registration fees to the organization. According to the Globe and Mail, Hockey Canada also failed to disclose to parliament the existence of a second secret fund to pay for legal efforts to fend off sexual assault claims. At the time, prime minister Justin Trudeau said Canada’s ice hockey governing body had “lost the confidence” of the country.
In Monday’s court appearance, prosecutors said a “significant” amount of disclosure would be sent to the defense in the coming days. In the event all men are tried together, their legal teams must decide if the case is to be heard by a judge alone, or if their clients want a jury trial. The court has granted a ban on publicly identifying the alleged victim. The men are due back in court on 30 April.