Hoggard trial: the testimony of one of the complainants continues

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press

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TORONTO — Defense attorneys at Jacob Hoggard’s trial suggest a young woman made up a “rape story” about her relationship with the Canadian musician because she was embarrassed that the rocker only met her to have sex with her.

During cross-examination of the alleged victim on Monday, defense attorney Megan Savard suggested that Jacob Hoggard and the young woman, who was 16 at the time, had consensual sex in the bedroom. hotel of the singer of the band Hedley in Mississauga, Ont., on September 30, 2016.

During the sexual assault trial in Toronto, Me Savard suggested that the teenager was angry at the end of this meeting because the singer had called a driver to pick her up, and she was too embarrassed to tell her friend — one of the two people who knew where she had been—why she hadn’t spent the whole night at the hotel.

“What shocked you was the fact that after having slept with him, he called a car to pick you up,” said Me Savard to the complainant.

“What shocked me was that he had non-consensual sex with me, during which he hit me. I was bleeding, I kept telling him no and I was crying. That’s what shocked me,” replied the woman.

“I was so happy to get out of that room, I couldn’t wait to get out of that room,” she said Monday, adding that it was she who had asked for a car to come and pick her up. She tricked the singer into thinking she was called to work.

At another point in the cross-examination, Me Savard also suggested that the teenager felt “idiot” to have believed that Jacob Hoggard had real feelings for her, when the sexual relationship “meant nothing to him” .

“You were angry to have had a crush on a rocker who only wanted you for the time of a sexual relationship,” said the lawyer.

But the alleged victim hit back by saying she felt “betrayed” because the singer had raped her and manipulated her to gain her trust. Earlier in the trial, she said she was a huge fan of the Hedley band, which she had seen perform 10 or 15 times since she was 10.

The woman, who is one of two plaintiffs in this sexual assault lawsuit, alleges the singer repeatedly vaginally and orally raped her in her hotel room, and attempted to rape her anally .

In an agreed statement of facts, the parties say the singer had sex with her at a hotel on September 30, 2016. The document says he also had sex with another woman, the second plaintiff in the case. case, on November 22 of the same year.

Jacob Hoggard pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one count of sexual interference, a charge related to sexually touching a person under the age of 16.

Earlier on Monday, Me Savard suggested the woman was ‘responding’ to the singer’s sexual interest when they exchanged messages before the meeting at the hotel. She pointed out that the two had exchanged nude photos. The complainant replied that although she “potentially” expressed a sexual interest in Hoggard, they did not exchange “sexts” or describe the sexual acts they desired to perform.

“There was never a message that I wanted to have sex with him,” she said.

The woman began her testimony last Thursday, saying she met Jacob Hoggard a few times at concerts and at Hedley fan events, and that they started messaging each other after meeting in April 2016, when she was 15 years old.

She testified that the messages turned romantic and sexual over time, and that Jacob Hoggard told her he loved her and saw a future with her.

The woman alleged he touched her backstage at a show a few weeks after he started texting her.

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