Warning: The following story contains graphic language
THUNDER BAY - Cross-examination of a former teammate of two Ottawa University hockey players accused of sexual assault continued for the second day in a Thunder Bay Courtroom on Wednesday, with text messages involving the alleged victim being brought forward.
During day three of the trial against David Foucher and Guillaume Donovan, who are accused of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old Thunder Bay woman in a hotel room on Feb. 2, 2014, Taylor Collins, a former teammate of the two accused was cross-examined by Donovan’s attorney, Christian Deslauriers.
In his testimony earlier in the week, Collins said he met the alleged victim via an online dating app, saw her at a local bar, and returned to the hotel with her where the two engaged in consensual sex.
According to Collins, he noticed Donovan standing next to the bed while he and the woman were having sex. The witness left the room and saw the woman and Donovan engaging in a sexual act. While in the adjoining hotel room, the witness said he saw Donovan and Foucher exit the room with their clothes on several minutes later.
Deslauriers spent much of his cross-examination on Wednesday asking Collins to recount specific details and timelines of that night, including which way he was facing when he was in the hotel room with the alleged victim, if he heard the door to an adjoining room open, and the amount of time he spent in the adjoining room after leaving the woman and Donovan in his room.
Collins was not able to recall everything, saying he did not remember when asked by Deslauriers for specific details.
On Wednesday, the witness told the court that in the days following the incident, he met with Ottawa University Gee Gees former head coach, Real Paiemont, and told him that he, Donovan, and the woman engaged in a consensual sex act together, saying the alleged victim was “willing and enjoying the threesome.”
However, he testified that that was a lie, and although that is what he told the coach, it was not true.
It was also revealed that the witness and the woman remained in contact after he returned to Ottawa and screenshots of text messages between the two were saved on his computer. Deslauirers asked if he would be willing to save these messages to a USB drive to be submitted to the court. The witness agreed and the messages were presented to counsel.
Collins was also asked if he kept the text messages between him and the alleged victim from the mobile dating app, to which he replied he deleted the app and no longer had the messages.
When asked if he would be willing to reinstall the app to see if the messages were still linked to his account, counsel for the Crown, Marc Huneault objected. After a brief break, the witness said he tried to reinstall the app on his phone and that the messages were no longer there.
Collins did say he was in contact with the alleged victim after the incident, but ceased contact with her as of Mar. 31, 2014 after seeking legal advice from a lawyer.
Deslauriers asked the witness if he was worried he could be charged as a result of the incident on Feb. 2 in Thunder Bay, to which he replied, no.
During his cross-examination, Deslauriers also asked Collins his feelings regarding sexual assault.
“If you were to notice if someone was assaulting someone else, you would intervene, right?” he asked.
“Yes,” Collins replied.
Collins will be back on the witness stand on Thursday when Deslauriers and Foucher’s lawyer, Celina St. Francois, will cross-examine him on the contents of the text messages saved on his computer that were submitted to the court on Wednesday.
