Accused of sexual assault | Cross-examination of the complainant at the trial of singer Jacob Hoggard

Jacob Hoggard’s lawyer accused the plaintiff in her sexual assault trial Thursday of trying to hide that she ultimately hoped to have sex with the musician, something the woman repeatedly denied during her testimony THURSDAY.

In cross-examination of the complainant, who cannot be identified, the lawyer insisted to the woman on her real intentions that night, but also on the inconsistencies between her testimony in court and the statement she had made to the police.

Hoggard, the frontman of the Canadian pop rock group Hedley, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault during the trial taking place in the community of Haileybury in northeastern Ontario.

The plaintiff alleges that Hoggard raped, beat and strangled her, and urinated on her in her hotel room after she attended his band’s show and an after-party in Kirkland Lake, eight years ago.

The defense and Crown agree that sex took place that evening, but prosecutors want to prove to jurors that it was not consensual. On Thursday, Hoggard’s attorney, Megan Savard, asked the complainant to what extent she and the accused had flirted at the party before the alleged assault.

The woman denied flirting with Hoggard, that they exchanged phone numbers, that he touched her suggestively, that he hugged her, that he whispered to her ear, that he had asked her to kiss him on the cheek, and that he had invited her to spend the night with him.

M^e Savard accused the complainant of having invented the description of events that she has given so far in her testimony. “You’re changing the wording now because you don’t want the jury to think that you knew, or were hoping to have sex with him,” Hoggard’s lawyer argued.

“No,” the woman replied.

“You have been experimenting for years now with how to tell this particular lie,” the lawyer said.

“Wrong,” the woman replied, visibly troubled.

Inconsistencies

Later, after the plaintiff said she was looking for “one-on-one” time with Hoggard, Ms.^e Savard suggested she was actually hoping for “a one-night stand” with the frontman of a band she liked, which the woman denied.

The lawyer also highlighted several inconsistencies between the complainant’s testimony this week and a statement she made to police in 2022.

Late Thursday afternoon, M^e Savard referenced police interviews that took place in February 2018. The complainant agreed that she chose not to press charges at the time after police incorrectly suggested that her identity was not would not be protected by a publication ban.

M^e Savard referenced police notes from the time that the complainant told two officers she had anonymously posted an allegation against Hoggard on social media.

The plaintiff said Thursday she didn’t remember doing it, but admitted it was possible.

M^e Savard produced a three-page document that had been published online and asked the complainant to consult it. She said she was convinced she hadn’t written it.

The cross-examination of the complainant is expected to continue on Friday.