Damning evidence from Team Canada teammate’s cellphone badly hurts accused players in 2018 World Juniors case!

The sexual assault trial of five former Hockey Canada world junior players continued on Wednesday with assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham looking to cross-examine one of the accused players’ former teammate, Brett Howden, who is now playing for the Vegas Golden Knights. He has not be charged with any wrongdoing in the case.

After he was called as a witness by the Crown yesterday, Howden was back on Wednesday and was informed by Cunningham that there were allegedly “18 instances of material inconsistencies between Howden’s testimony at the trial and statements he previously provided to investigators.”

The defence teams for the accused Cal Foote, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart and Michael McLeod, who have all pleaded not guilty, especially Dubé’s attorney, raised the point that the Crown met with Howden in Calgary in preparation and that they proceeded to call a witness “they know has legitimate memory issues.”

However, per TSN’s Rick Westhead, Cunningham has claimed in court that Howden was being untruthful when he testified he couldn’t recall details that could hurt five of his former teammates.

Here is what was said on Wednesday, per Westhead, and he provided damning evidence from Howden’s cellphone itself after the alleged assault:

Cunningham: “Mr. Howden’s memory loss is a feigned memory loss, not a sincere one… He remembers some details but doesn’t remember the details that are particularly damning to his friends and teammates.
Howden has testified he did not see Dillon Dube slap E.M.
Cunningham read a text message Howden sent to Team Canada teammate Taylor Raddysh in 2018 in which Howden wrote, “Dude, I’m so happy I left when all the shit went down. Haha. Man, when I was leaving, Duber was smacking this girl’s ass so hard. Like, it looks like it hurt so bad.”
Cunningham said that in 2022, Howden told an investigator, “I do remember seeing the smack. That was drawing a line for me to leave because I had felt uncomfortable to that point. Once I had seen that, I just wanted to be out of there…”
Cunningham also said that in a 2018 interview with an investigator, Howden said, “I just heard her kind of weeping. I didn’t know what was going on. I went to my room because I didn’t want to be part of anything.”

Carter Hart’s lawyer, Megan Savard also addressed the court about the claims of inconsistencies, and somehow attacked Howden in the process. She questioned his credibility, and raised questions about whether he had come prepared to court to perjure himself. She even described Howden as unsophisticated, that he didn’t come dressed for court (he was wearing a hoodie) and that he was inarticulate, a poor communicator and careless with words, per CBC.

“I would say, if anything, we may all say at the end of the day this witness is generally useless, but certainly not helpful to the defence,” Savard said.

LATEST UPDATE: 

Later in the afternoon, Justice Maria Carroccia ruled that there were some inconsistencies in Brett Howden’s testimony. But Carroccia concluded that Howden was not feigning lack of memory or being insincere about whether he has a recollection of his earlier statements or particulars of the events he has been asked to describe.

Per CBC:

“This ruling came in the wake of the Crown’s application under Section 9(2) of the Canada Evidence Act. That would allow the Crown to cross-examine Howden, who is a Crown witness.
Carroccia said she found four instances in which there were inconsistencies in Howden’s testimony.
Assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham said she would confer with defence lawyers on how to proceed, as Carroccia will still need to rule on whether the Crown can cross-examine Howden.
Throughout Tuesday’s testimony, Cunningham asked Howden about certain incidents or details related to the alleged assaults.
When Howden said he couldn’t recall those details, Cunningham asked him to refer to prior statements he had made in interviews with investigators.
Despite referring to those statements, Howden often testified that he still couldn’t recall the details.”

Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, and Carter Hart are charged with sexually assaulting a woman identified in court documents as E.M. in June 2018 at a London hotel following a Hockey Canada golf and gala event. McLeod faces a second sexual assault charge as a party to the offence. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Last week after the jury was discharged, the defence and the Crown have both agreed to the proceedings before only a judge.