Warning: The following story contains graphic language.
THUNDER BAY – In the second week of a trial against two former Ottawa University hockey players charged with sexual assault, the alleged victim underwent further cross-examination by the attorney representing one of the accused, who pressed her on whether she consented to sexual contact with the two men.
David Foucher, 28, and Guillaume Donovan, 27, are each accused of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old Thunder Bay woman in a hotel on Feb. 2, 2014.
Last Thursday, the alleged victim took the witness stand and on Monday, Donovan’s attorney, Christian Deslauriers, continued his cross-examination in a Thunder Bay Courtroom.
According to testimony last week by former Ottawa University hockey player, Taylor Collins, he met the alleged victim through an online dating app, saw her at a local bar the night of Feb. 2, and engaged in consensual sex with her at the hotel where the team was staying.
Collins also testified that he saw Donovan standing near the bed and he left the room. During the alleged victim’s testimony last week, she said after Collins left the room, a man from the foot of the bed climbed on top of her and started having sexual intercourse with her, while another man attempted to force her to perform oral sex.
She testified at the time that it was not consensual and she did not agree to the sexual contact.
Deslauriers questioned the alleged victim about whether she consented to either oral sex or complete sex, to which she replied, no.
“You went along with it and did not express the fact that you were not consenting?” Deslauriers asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
Deslauriers suggested to the alleged victim that she was embarrassed by what happened that night, which is why he claims she lied to police investigating the incident.
Earlier in his cross-examination on Monday, Deslauriers pointed to conversations the alleged victim had with Collins via text message prior to her first meeting with police on Feb. 28.
Deslauriers asserted the two spoke about making sure their stories were the same and that the alleged victim would tell police that a friend of hers blew the situation out of proportion and would say as little as possible to police.
The alleged victim said it was correct that she and Collins spoke prior to her first meeting with police and that she did tell him she would talk as minimally as possible.
“Did you ever hear Mr. Collins say it was consensual between you and the other guy?” Deslauriers asked her.
“I do remember him asking me that,” she replied.
But she added that she knew it was true that it was not consensual.
“The fact that Mr. Collins would have said that, you did not know if it was consensual?” Deslauriers asked.
“Wrong,” she replied.
In other messages exchanged between the two prior to the woman’s first meeting with police, Collins said to the alleged victim that a friend of hers was sticking up for her because she felt bad the next day after the night of Feb. 2.
“You will have to say you were fine with what happened, but it is 100 per cent up to you,” Deslauriers read from a text Collins wrote to the alleged victim.
“Yeah, but they have no idea who it was truthfully and neither do I,” Deslauriers continued reading the alleged victims reply. “So unless fingers are pointed by the team, no one will know anything happened.”
The alleged victim met with police a second time on Mar. 5, during which she told investigating officers that she remembered there being a number of naked bodies in the room but could not recall any of the faces or voices in the room that night. She added that a man got on top of her and she went along with it because she didn’t know what else to do.
Proceedings continue on Tuesday.
