Tyler Steenbergen said he went to a teammate’s hotel room under the impression there was food inside, and so he said he was shocked when a naked woman emerged from the bathroom.
Testifying late Wednesday at the sexual assault trial of five members of the 2018 Canadian world junior championship hockey team, Steenbergen said the woman got down on a bedsheet on the floor of the London, Ont., hotel room crowded with players and began masturbating.
“She said, ‘Can one of you guys come over and f--- me?’” Steenbergen testified via Zoom, under questioning by Crown attorney Heather Donkers.
Canada forward Tyler Steenbergen skates during the 2018 world junior hockey championships in Buffalo.
Jeffrey T. Barnes APAnd that’s when player Carter Hart approached her and received oral sex for about 30 seconds to a minute, Steenbergen testified.
“I feel like when she asked for guys to come over to have sex with her, I feel like everyone was just kind of in shock that she had said that,” he said.
Once Hart stopped, the woman said something along the lines of, “Oh, you guys are being pussies,” Steenbergen said, which is when he remembers teammate Michael McLeod also receiving oral sex from the woman.
Hart, McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dubé, and Cal Foote have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.
Steenbergen’s testimony began immediately after the complainant in the case completed a marathon nine days of testimony Wednesday afternoon, in which she alleged it was the players who put the bedsheet on the floor and asked her to fondle herself on it, as well to perform oral sex on them while she was slapped and spat on, and to have vaginal intercourse.
The jury has heard — in graphic detail — her allegations about what took place inside a London, Ont., hotel room in 2018.
The jury has heard — in graphic detail — her allegations about what took place inside a London, Ont., hotel room in 2018.
While she never said no to the sexual acts and didn’t physically resist, the woman testified that she went into “autopilot” mode as her mind had separated from her body, and she was just engaging in the sexual activity as a way of protecting herself in a room full of men she didn’t know. She said she adopted a “porn star persona” as a coping mechanism.
It was put to the complainant during cross-examination last week that she had been demanding sex from the players, and had made the “pussies” comment, but she said she didn’t recall: “That doesn’t even sound like how I would usually speak.”
The jury has heard that the then-20-year-old woman met McLeod at Jack’s Bar and returned to his room at the Delta Armouries hotel in the early hours of June 19, 2018, where they had consensual sex. Multiple men began showing up in the room afterward following a group chat text from McLeod, which the defence has argued was the complainant’s idea, something she has strenuously denied.
In a text sent shortly after 2 a.m. on June 19, McLeod said, “Who wants to be in 3 way quick,” and Hart replied: “I’m in.”
A screenshot of a group chat involving members of Canada’s 2018 world junior championship team, including a text from Michael McLeod inviting his teammates to his hotel room for a three-way.
Ontario Superior CourtSteenbergen had been out at Jack’s earlier that night, returning late to the hotel with Dubé, who was the team captain, and others. He said someone received a text about food in McLeod’s room, and he, Dubé, and team member Jake Bean headed there.
“I would say I was drunk, but not overly drunk,” he testified. “But yeah, drunk.”
Once in the room, which was already crowded with a number of players, Steenbergen said he sat down at the desk.
“I hear someone say, ‘Guys, there’s a naked girl in the bathroom,” he testified. “I was kind of shocked and then she shortly after came out.”
He said he didn’t recall hearing other people talking to each other during the sexual activity.
“I don’t remember, I was trying to have a conversation with Jake Bean,” he said.
The accused men’s charges relate to the Crown’s allegations that McLeod had intercourse with the complainant a second time in the hotel room’s bathroom; that Formenton separately had intercourse with the complainant in the bathroom; that McLeod, Hart, and Dubé obtained oral sex from the woman; that Dubé slapped her naked buttocks, and that Foote did the splits over her head and his genitals “grazed” her face.
McLeod also pleaded not guilty to being a party to a sexual assault, for allegedly encouraging his teammates to engage in sexual activity with the complainant when he knew she wasn’t consenting.
Steenbergen’s testimony continues Thursday.
