E.M. recalls details of 'degrading' alleged sexual assault at trial of ex-world junior players

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WARNING: This post contains graphic details.

E.M. Says she had no idea a man was about to do the splits over her face.

“I thought it was gross. I didn’t think it was respectful. It felt degrading," she says.

E.M. Says the other men in the room were laughing and it seemed like they were making fun of her.

“It was all just a joke to them.”

When she went into the bathroom, a man bent her over the sink and had sex with her, she says. Then she performed oral sex on him.

She was naked and he was dressed. He put a condom on, she says. She’s not sure where the condom came from.

“It felt like a continuation of what was going on. My mind was separated from all that was happening,” E.M. Says. €œI was feeling like I didn’t have control over it.”

WARNING: This post contains graphic details.

The men started pulling off their pants and some said “suck” and “suck it.” The other men were encouraging each other, she testifies.

She says someone spit on her back, and someone else was slapping her butt as she performed oral sex on three of them at once.

“I shut down and let my body do what it needed to do to be safe. It seemed like the only safe thing to do was give them what they were wanting.”

E.M. Describes being numb and on autopilot.

Once she was done performing oral sex, she says, she was lying on the sheet on the ground and “an individual did the splits right over my face.” She didn’t know that was going to happen.

She started toward the bathroom and someone else followed her, and they had sex in the bathroom, she says.

E.M. Says she was 5-foot-4 and weighed 120 pounds in 2018.

The men “seemed a lot taller, a lot bigger.”

Other men started entering and she had a “weird feeling of just separating from my body,” E.M. Says.

Her mind floated to the top corner of the ceiling.

WARNING: This post contains graphic details.

“I was feeling scared. I didn't know where things were going and didn't know how to handle that kind of a situation," E.M. Tells the court.

“I was scared and confused.”

She says “they were laughing at me… spitting on me at points.

“It seemed like a joke to them…. But I was feeling intimidated and not sure how to react.”

WARNING: This post contains graphic details.

E.M. Is speaking about the night of the alleged assault.

She testifies the men — she isn’t sure who — put a bedsheet on the floor and wanted her to lie down on it and touch herself.

She says it likely happened because she told them she did not feel comfortable lying on the hotel floor.

She says they had golf clubs and “talked about putting golf balls in my vagina” or she could “take the whole golf club in me.”

Cunningham asks what was going through her mind when people other than McLeod came in the room.

Assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham asks E.M. About the consensual sex with McLeod.

She says she performed oral sex on him and they had vaginal intercourse. After that, she went to the bathroom and McLeod got dressed right away, which she thought was strange.

McLeod was on his phone; she assumed he was texting. She was still naked on the bed.

Cunningham asked her what her expectations were about the rest of the night, now that the two had had sex.

“I just assumed I would be staying there for the night. I didn’t really have any expectations,” E.M. Responds. €œI wasn’t sure why he was dressed already and on his phone. I was waiting to see what was happening.”

She says there was no conversation about what would happen next, but when two men came into the room, she was very surprised. (The men she's referring to are Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk, who were teammates of the accused but don't face charges themselves. They testified earlier in the trial.)

The jury is sitting now.

Justice Maria Carroccia, who is overseeing the trial, tells them court staff are working on figuring out a way for jurors to be brought in through a separate entrance so they don’t have to go past the supporters.

Carroccia reminds the jury that no matter what they hear people chant or what their signs say, the jury must disregard them.

“This has nothing to do with your job here. You must decide this case based solely on the evidence and my instructions.”

People who support E.M. Are holding up signs outside the courthouse as they did late last week.

The accused men walk briskly past them, staring straight ahead as they – along with their family members and lawyers – go into the courthouse.

I’m back in the main courtroom in London, Ont., as part of our coverage of the trial.

What is and isn’t consent is a central part of the trial, as outlined by the Crown.

This weekend, my colleagues Katie Nicholson and Karen Pauls took an in-depth look at consent videos and whether they hold up as evidence in court. Experts told them the concept of consent isn't always understood and some people are putting misplaced trust in videos mentioning it.

This morning, the Crown lawyers are already in the courtroom and reporters are in the hallway waiting to be let in.

Proceedings are expected to begin at 10 a.m. ET.

The trial for five former world junior hockey players continues with testimony from E.M., the complainant. Her name is protected by a publication ban, which is standard in sexual assault cases like this one.

She told the court Friday she remembers feeling “uncomfortable and confused” while surrounded by a group of men, including some of the accused, at a bar on the night of the alleged assault.

At the time, E.M. Said, she was a university student who had trouble saying “no” to people for fear of upsetting them. She said she tried to compensate for her discomfort by drinking too much at Jack’s bar that night, having gone out with work colleagues she didn’t know very well.

E.M. Said she was “completely out of it” when she left the bar with Michael McLeod, one of the accused in this case.

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