Sex assault trial of Hedley’s Jacob Hoggard continues Tuesday
Warning: Contains graphic content
The sexual assault trial of Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard continues Tuesday, following the testimony of one of two women accusing him of violently and repeated raping them in the fall of 2016.
Hoggard, 37, has pleaded not guilty to sexual touching of a person under the age of 16 and two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm. He has admitted to having a sexual encounter" with both complainants. The identities of both women are under a publication ban available to sexual assault complainants.
Over three days, the Crown's first witness testified that she had a been a fan of the B.C.-based band since she was a small child and first had a proper conversation with Hoggard when she met him after a concert with her parents when she was 12. She testified that, when she was 15, she and Hoggard began exchanging romantic and sexual messages and that she was infatuated" with the musician.
She said Hoggard grabbed her bum and tried to kiss her neck while backstage after a concert at the Air Canada Centre on April 29, 2016. In September of the same year, months after she turned 16, Hoggard sent a car to bring her to his hotel in Mississauga where she alleged he raped her, causing serious injuries. She said she did not have a plan to have sex with him that day and that she assumed they'd be going out for lunch in downtown Toronto, possibly with other members of the band.
During cross-examination, Hoggard's lawyer Megan Savard suggested the complainant lied to her best friend and mother that she'd been sexually assaulted in September 2016 because she felt hurt and embarrassed that she fell in love with a rock star who only wanted to have sex with her. She also didn't want her mother to be upset with her for going to meet him, Savard suggested.
The complainant, now in her early 20s, firmly rejected this and denied that they had consensual sex.
Savard also suggested the complainant fabricated the alleged sexual touching at the Air Canada Centre.
The second complainant met Hoggard in Ottawa and travelled to Toronto to see him in November 2016, Crown prosecutor Kelly Slate told the jury in an overview of the evidence the jury is expected to hear.
He was performing at We Day in Ottawa and invited her backstage, which she declined at the time. They continued communicating and he invited her to Toronto when the band was performing at the Jingle Ball. The young woman expected they would have sex but she did not consent to what took place in Hoggard's hotel room, Slate said.
Slate said the woman will testify that he pushed her onto bed and raped her vaginally, anally and orally. He also slapped her, spit in her mouth, choked her so she couldn't breathe and dragged her to the bathroom by her legs, Slate said she will testify. Like the first complainant, the woman was crying throughout and said no, Slate said.
Friends of the woman will testify she was upset and emotional when she got home and one will describe seeing bruises on the woman's legs and that she had trouble walking, Slate said.
The trial continues.
If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual violence or abuse, you can call the Assaulted Women's Helpline at 416 863 0511 or 1 866 863 0511 or text #SAFE (#7233) on your Bell, Rogers, Fido or Telus mobile phone.
Alyshah Hasham is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and court for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @alysanmati