Full details of today's 'Not Guilty' ruling for all 5 accused members in 2018 World Junior trial

Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia has rendered a verdict in the sexual assault trial for five members of team Canada's 2018 World Junior championships team.

Carroccia found former NHLers Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, Alex Formenton, Michael McLeod and Cal Foote not guilty of sexual assault.

“Having found that I cannot rely upon the evidence of E.M. and then considering the evidence in this trial as a whole, I conclude that the Crown cannot meet its onus on any of the counts before me,” Carroccia said earlier today.

“Having found that I cannot rely upon the evidence of E.M. and then considering the evidence in this trial as a whole, I conclude that the Crown cannot meet its onus on any of the counts before me,” the judge said.

The verdict comes a full 15 months after the players were first charged with sexual assault by an unnamed woman who has had her identity protected by the court. Jurors and the public have heard the sordid details of what happened between the woman identified only as E.M. in court documents and the likes of Hart, Dube, Formenton, McLeod and Foote in a London, ON hotel room way back in June, 2018.

"I do not find the evidence of E.M. to be either credible or reliable. Crown cannot meet onus on any counts,” Carroccia said in court this morning. “In this case, I have found actual consent not vitiated by fear.”

E.M. alleged that she engaged in consensual sex with McLeod before being taken advantage of by Hart, Dube, Formenton and Foote. “I was feeling scared,” E.M. told the court. “I didn’t know where things were going. I didn’t know how to handle that kind of situation. “I was scared and confused, I guess… They were laughing at me; they were spitting on me at points. It just seemed like a joke to them. But I was feeling just intimidated and not sure how to react.”

E.M. told the court that she went to the bathroom again and after she returned to the hotel room, there were a number of other men present. She testified that the men directed her to lay on the floor and when she refused, someone put down a bedsheet.

E.M. testified that she had a “weird feeling of my mind separating itself from my body. I just remember the way I picture that night. My mind kind of floated to the top corner of the ceiling. I just started watching everything happen...It didn’t feel like I had any control, it didn’t feel like I had a choice.”

She testified that there were golf clubs in the room and the players “talked about putting golf balls in my vagina” and talked about whether E.M. could “take the whole golf club in me.”

E.M. testified that she was directed by the players to touch herself sexually and moan and then three of the men pulled down their pants and wanted her to perform oral sex on them while some of the men in the room said “suck on it” and “spit on it.” She said someone spit on her back and someone slapped her buttocks as she performed the sex acts.

After that finished, E.M. testified that a man did the splits overtop of her, putting his penis on her face, adding that she did not see the man’s face.

“I shut down and let my body do what it needed to do to keep me safe,” E.M. told the court. “It felt like the safe thing to do was give them what they were wanting.”

E.M. said she then went into the bathroom and was followed in by one of the men, who bent her over the sink and had sex with her, using a condom. E.M. testified she also performed oral sex on the man after he removed the condom.

E.M. was shown an annotated photo of the 2018 Canadian world junior team at a ring ceremony in June 2018. A note written by a police investigator said “bathroom” and pointed to Formenton. E.M. said she also later identified him by the acne on his face.

E.M. said she repeatedly tried to get dressed and leave the room but when she did, one of the men would put their arm around her and tell her to remain, moving her away from the door. She said she felt ill but couldn’t throw up.

“I felt like I had no option,” E.M. testified. “They kept bringing me back.”

At one point one of the men noticed she was crying, and she heard him say, “Oh, she’s crying, don’t let her go,” E.M. testified.

Towards the end of the evening, E.M. testified that McLeod wanted her to perform oral sex on him as he was laying on his bed. She said as she did so, a number of men began slapping her buttocks “as hard as they could” and she told them to stop because of how much it hurt.

Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham presented two short videos that were filmed during the incident, two key pieces of evidence in the trial.

In one video, a man off camera said, “You’re okay with this, right? You’re okay with this?”

E.M. responded, “I’m okay with this.”

In a second video, E.M.’s torso was covered by a towel. She said, “This was all consensual. Are you recording me? Okay good. You are so paranoid. Holy. I enjoyed it. It was fine. I’m so sober. That’s why I can’t do this right now.”

E.M. told the court she doesn’t remember either of the videos being recorded and told the court she thought she was laying on the bedsheet on the ground in the first video and that the second video was filmed after McLeod had told all of the other players to leave the room.