Steenbergen becomes third non-charged player to testify at London hockey trial

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

LONDON, ONT.– Tyler Steenbergen, a former member of Canada’s 2018 world junior team, testified Wednesday that he watched as Carter Hart and Michael McLeod received oral sex in a London hotel room in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018, from E.M., the complainant in the sexual assault trial of Hart, McLeod and three of their teammates.

Steenbergen, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, appeared remotely via CCTV.

The 27-year-old, who was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in 2017 and no longer plays professional hockey, is the third non-charged player to testify in the trial, joining Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk, who also testified remotely.

McLeod, Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Callan Foote are charged with sexually assaulting E.M. in a London hotel room in the early morning hours of June 19, 2018. McLeod faces a second charge of being a party to the act.

The defendants have all pleaded not guilty. If they are convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison.

The court has heard evidence that, after dancing with McLeod and his teammates at a bar in downtown London, E.M. returned to McLeod’s hotel room and the two had consensual sex.

E.M., who is now 27 and whose identity is protected by a publication ban, has testified she had about 12 alcoholic drinks over the course of the evening, although defence lawyers have suggested that she actually drank much less alcohol than that.

E.M. has alleged that after they finished having sex, a number of other men began showing up at the hotel room. E.M., who was 20 in 2018, was then sexually assaulted for several hours, taking on a “porn star persona” to get out of the room safely, she has testified.

Steenbergen testified that he ran into “Mikey and the girl” while he and his teammates were at Jack’s bar in downtown London but he was never introduced to the woman.

After having enough alcohol to be drunk, Steenbergen said that he left the bar with his teammates Dube, Dante Fabbro, and Colton Point, stopped for some poutine and then returned to the Delta Armouries hotel where the team was staying.

Steenbergen testified his roommate, Jake Bean, was waiting for him in the lobby because he had misplaced his room key.

While the players were in the lobby, someone texted them that McLeod had food in his hotel room, room 209. Steenbergen, who testified that he could remember McLeod’s room number but not his own, told the court that he went to the room with Bean and Dube.

When they arrived, other players already inside were Sam Steel, Brett Howden, Maxime Comtois, Drake Batherson, Hart, Formenton, and McLeod. With the arrival of Steenbergen, Bean and Dube, there were 10 men in the room, according to Steenbergen.

While he was in McLeod’s room, Steenbergen testified, “I heard someone say, ‘Guys there's a naked girl in the bathroom.’”

“What did you think about that?” assistant Crown attorney Heather Donkers asked Steenbergen.

“I was kind of shocked and then she shortly after came out,” he answered.

Steenbergen testified that the naked woman then went to a bedsheet that had been placed on the floor in between the room’s two beds and that she began masturbating.

“She said, ‘Can one of you come over and f--k me?’” Steenbergen testified.

At that point, Hart walked over to her, took down his pants to his knees, and received oral sex from the woman for 30 seconds to one minute, Steenbergen testified.

Steenbergen testified that he was trying to have a conversation with Bean at the time and he didn’t know if Hart said anything to the woman before the sexual act.

“I feel like when she asked for guys to come over and have sex everyone was just in shock she had said that,” Steenbergen testified. “I remember her saying something along the lines of, ‘Oh you guys are being p---ies’. I remember Michael McLeod getting a blow job.”

At that point, court adjourned for the day. Steenbergen will resume his testimony on Thursday morning.