Content advisory: This article includes graphic language and details of alleged sexual assault

LONDON, ONT. – E.M., the complainant in the sexual assault trial of five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team, was an unreliable witness who lied under oath and changed her story as new facts about the alleged sexual assault emerged, a defence lawyer asserted on Tuesday.

Alex Formenton’s lawyer, Daniel Brown, was the third defence lawyer to address Justice Maria Carroccia and make his closing statement in the high-profile case. After Brown finished making his submission early Tuesday afternoon, Carroccia told the court that she would announce her verdicts on July 24.

Brown, who followed lawyers for Michael McLeod and Carter Hart, attempted to dismantle E.M.’s account of a night in London in June of 2018 that led to the players being charged in January of 2024.

McLeod, Hart, Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Callan Foote are charged with sexually assaulting E.M. in McLeod’s hotel room in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018, following a Hockey Canada ring ceremony and a night of dancing and drinking at a downtown London bar. McLeod faces a second charge of party to the sexual assault. All of the players have pleaded not guilty.

Brown accused E.M. of perjury, saying that when he asked her during cross-examination how much she weighed in June 2018, E.M. answered 120 pounds. Brown later showed E.M. her medical records documenting that she had weighed 138 pounds at that time. E.M. admitted during her testimony that she was aware she weighed more than 120 pounds in 2018 but wanted to keep her evidence consistent with........

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