VANCOUVER – A woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Jake Virtanen says she told the former Vancouver Canucks striker that she did not want to have sex with him several times.
“I have said no several times,” the woman, whose identity is covered by a publication ban, said Monday.
Virtanen, 25, was charged with a felony count of sexual assault in January following a police investigation into the alleged incident, which took place on September 26, 2017. Virtanen was playing for the Canucks at the time.
Vancouver police began their investigation in May 2021 after the 23-year-old woman filed a complaint.
Virtanen sat in the courtroom Monday dressed in a blue suit and listened intently to the Crown prosecutor’s initial statement and the woman’s testimony.
The judge and jury learned that the woman was 18 when she met Virtanen at the Calgary Stampede in July 2017. She said she did not recognize him at the time and does not follow the Canucks.
While in Calgary, the woman and Virtanen kissed and exchanged numbers, then kept in touch via text messages and direct messages on Instagram after the two returned to BC.
In September 2017, the woman traveled to Vancouver to visit friends and participate in a photo shoot. She sent a message to Virtanen to see him, and when he suggested meeting the night she arrived, she offered to meet another day.
“I didn’t want to be put in a situation that made me feel uncomfortable,” he said. “I was worried that at night it would put me in a sexual situation.”
Finally, the woman agreed to meet Virtanen that night and he picked her up at a friend’s house. The woman said they didn’t talk about what they would do and thought they would go somewhere public.
When Virtanen took her to a downtown Vancouver hotel, the woman said she “felt sick.”
“I had that kind of sinking feeling in my stomach,” he said. “It was the exact situation I didn’t want to be put in.”
The woman said she had no intention of having sex with Virtanen.
“If I wanted to have a sexual encounter, even if there was a part of me that wanted it, I would have been traveling all day,” she said. “I would have showered again. To be honest, I probably would have shaved my legs. And I didn’t do any of that because I was so sure of it and I decided it wouldn’t happen.”
The woman said she trusted Virtanen, so she went up to her hotel room. He said he kissed and touched her repeatedly and she pushed him repeatedly, telling him “I really don’t want to have sex with you.”
“‘No, no. I said no,'” he said. “I said no and I don’t want to.”
The woman testified that Virtanen sexually assaulted her.
She said she spent the night in the hotel room and in the morning asked him to drive her back to her friend’s house. He said he told her he couldn’t because he had to go to hockey practice and instead gave him money for a taxi.
Crown attorney Alan Ip asked the woman how she felt about the situation.
“Very raped, dirty and confused,” she said. “Distressed.”
The woman said she did not turn to police after the alleged assault.
“I had not accepted the fact that I had been raped,” he said. “I was confused.”
The trial is set to continue on Tuesday.
The Canucks fired Virtanen in May 2021 and his contract was bought the following month.
He last played for Moscow’s Spartak at the KHL based in Russia and is not under arrest.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 18, 2022.