LONDON — The invitation to take part in a threesome came in a text message, followed by a phone call, one of five hockey players accused of sexual assault testified Thursday.
Carter Hart told a London, Ont., courthouse he was outside a bar with two other players in the early hours of June 19, 2018, when he saw the message teammate Michael McLeod sent to the national world junior hockey team's group chat, asking if anyone wanted to have a "three-way" and listing his hotel room number.
Hart replied, "I'm in," assuming it was an invitation to take part in a threesome with a girl, though he planned to make the final decision once inside the room, he said.
Soon after, as he walked with teammates Alex Formenton and Rob Thomas, Hart spoke to McLeod on the phone, he told the court.
He couldn't remember the specifics of what McLeod said, but Hart said the gist was that "Mike was with a girl back at the hotel that wanted to have sex with some of the boys" — the boys being their teammates.
Hart initially said he received the call, but under cross-examination from McLeod's lawyer said he couldn't recall who called whom. It's possible Formenton participated in the conversation, or that the two of them discussed it together, Hart said, but he couldn't remember.
Court had previously seen McLeod's text to the group chat but Hart's testimony marks the first time the trial has heard about a phone call between the players around that time. McLeod did not mention either in an interview he gave police in 2018, court has heard.
Hart began testifying in his defence Thursday morning after prosecutors wrapped up their case.
Hart, McLeod, Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, and McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
Prosecutors allege McLeod, Hart and Dube obtained oral sex from the woman without her consent, and Dube slapped her buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with someone else.
Foote is accused of doing the splits over the woman's face and grazing his genitals on it without her consent. Formenton is alleged to have had vaginal sex with the complainant inside the bathroom without her consent.
The events at the heart of the trial took place as many members of the 2018 national world junior team were in town for a series of events celebrating their championship win.
After a Hockey Canada gala, many on the team ended up at Jack's, a downtown bar where the complainant was drinking with co-workers, court has heard. The woman left the bar with McLeod and they had sex in his hotel room, an encounter that is not part of the trial, court heard.
The woman testified she was surprised and scared when a number of men started coming into the room. She was drunk and naked, and didn't know what these men would do if she didn't go along with what they wanted, she said. She felt her mind shut down and engaged in sexual acts while on "autopilot," she said.
The men seemed to be laughing at her as they discussed sexual acts they wanted her to perform, she testified.
The defence has suggested the woman participated actively in the sexual activity and at times taunted the players to engage in sexual acts with her.
CAUTION: The following paragraphs contain graphic content some readers may find disturbing.
Hart testified he was "pretty drunk" by the time he got to the room and couldn't remember everything that happened or the exact order of the events, but his first memory of the complainant is seeing her laying naked on a sheet on the floor, masturbating. Several other players were in the room, he said.
The woman, whose name he didn't learn until days later, then said something along the lines of, "can somebody come f--- me?" he said.
Some of the guys looked at each other like they were wondering if it was real, he said.
Hart was "pretty excited," he said. He was 19 and single at the time and "there was a naked girl in the room that was doing these things willingly," which he had never seen before, he said.
He testified that he asked the woman for oral sex because he didn't want to have intercourse. She said something like "yeah" or "sure" and crawled toward him, then helped him pull down his pants, he said.
The oral sex only lasted 30 to 60 seconds because Hart couldn't become fully erect and felt weird about the situation, he said. "There was other guys in the room looking. I do remember making eye contact with somebody and it was just, like, weird," he said.
Hart told the court his sexual contact with the complainant was consensual and he didn't touch her body during the act.
The woman repeated her offer of sex afterward and seemed annoyed no one was taking her up on it, Hart said. Many of the men in the room had girlfriends and didn't want to do anything with her, he said. Hart said he didn't remember responding to the woman's offers again.
At one point, Formenton and the woman walked over to the bathroom together, holding hands, he said. Hart said he couldn't remember how long they were in there.
Court saw a text Hart sent to another teammate, Dante Fabbro, telling him to "get to 209," the room number. He said he sent it because Fabbro was also single.
At another time, some of the men started telling Foote to do the splits, and Hart said he saw the other player do the splits over the complainant as she lay on the ground. Foote was wearing shorts and a shirt, and didn't touch the woman's body, he said.
Hart and the guys thought it was funny, and he said he saw the woman laughing as well. Under cross-examination from Foote's lawyer, he agreed he didn't view the incident as sexual.
His next memory is of leaving the room, which Hart believed he did with Jake Bean and another player. He estimated he was in the room for about an hour.
Hart said he didn't see any sexual contact between the woman and Dube or McLeod, nor did he see anyone slap or spit on her at any point.
At a breakfast before a golf tournament the next morning, some of the guys were talking about what happened, but Hart said he didn't remember the details.
Court has heard the players who were in the room formed a group chat about a week later to discuss how to respond to Hockey Canada's investigation into the encounter.
Hart said he didn't see the chat immediately because he was participating in a hockey development camp and was undergoing Navy SEAL training at the Jersey Shore. Phone use was limited and reception was terrible, he said.
He just skimmed through more than 100 messages before chiming in, he said.
His first message read: "Honestly boys nobody did anything wrong, like we got consent to anything that she did. She was the one begging for guys to bang her."
In his next message, he asked whether Hockey Canada or police were investigating, and McLeod replied it was the former.
Asked about the chat on Thursday, Hart said he thought it was everyone "just agreeing to tell the truth."
He never discussed what happened in the room with his world junior teammates after that, he said, though he did speak with McLeod on the phone to clarify whether police or Hockey Canada were investigating. He said he also received advice from Bean by text and got a call from Foote, but he couldn't hear what was said because of the poor reception.
Earlier this week, court heard interviews McLeod, Formenton and Dube gave to the detective leading the police investigation into the allegations in 2018.
Formenton told then-Det. Steve Newton in November 2018 that he saw Hart receive oral sex twice. On the second occasion, the woman then gave oral sex to Dube and McLeod, he said.
Dube said he received oral sex for about 10 seconds before he "kind of knew it was a bad idea" and stumbled back. He said he left shortly afterward.
A lawyer representing McLeod said Thursday he isn't calling any evidence. It is not yet known whether any of the other players will testify.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
