An Ontario judge is expected to rule today on whether texts sent by a former member of Canada’s world junior hockey team can be admitted as evidence at the sexual assault trial of five of his ex-teammates.
Brett Howden faced questions Thursday in a voir-dire — essentially a trial within a trial — over a text conversation he had with another then-teammate, Taylor Raddysh, on June 26, 2018.
In the exchange, Howden describes some parts of the June 19, 2018 encounter at the heart of the trial, including a moment when he says one of the accused, Dillon Dube, slapped the complainant on the buttocks.
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The Crown wants to introduce some of those texts as evidence due to Howden’s lack of memory on certain details of the events and the statements he has made in the past.
Dube, Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart and Callan Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.
McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offence of sexual assault.
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