A trial for five players charged with sexual assault in connection with an incident in 2018 allegedly involving members of that year's Canadian national junior hockey team will be set June 11, Ontario Superior Court judge Alissa Mitchell ruled Tuesday.
A trial has been tentatively scheduled to start the week of April 21, 2025, however that is pending the availability of the defence lawyers. Eight weeks have been allotted for the judge and jury trial, in which the accused will appear as a group.
Judge Mitchell further ruled that pre-trial motions would be heard on June 11, and that the accused would appear in court on Sept. 5.
As with the first court date of the case on Feb. 5, none of the players were present on Tuesday, and were represented via Zoom by counsel.
Appearing for their clients were lawyers David Humphrey, Lindsay Board and Riaz Sayani.
London Police Chief Thai Truong apologized on Feb. 5 to the woman at the centre of the investigation into the alleged sexual assault.
Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Carter Hart and Alex Formenton have been charged with one count of each of sexual assault. Michael McLeod has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, including one relating to aiding someone else in the offence.
In May 2022, a report revealed that Hockey Canada had settled a civil lawsuit with a woman in London after she alleged she was sexually assaulted by eight men, including members of the 2018 men’s world junior team, following an event honouring the team in June 2018. Following widespread scrutiny of Hockey Canada’s handling of the situation, London police re-opened its own investigation in July 2022. An initial investigation was launched in the summer of 2018 and closed in February 2019 with investigators concluding that there was insufficient evidence to lay charges.
