Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press Published Friday, May 27, 2022 at 5:54 AM EDT Last Updated on Friday, May 27, 2022 7:23 PM EDT
TORONTO – Jurors faced two very different performances of Jacob Hoggard on Friday, with prosecutors portraying the Canadian musician as a “sexual opportunist” who refused to accept a no in response and defense attorneys they described her as an insecure celebrity who used meaningless women. but consensual sex.
Hoggard, the leader of the band Hedley, has admitted to having sex with a teenage fan and a young woman in Ottawa in the fall of 2016, leaving the jury to determine whether the meetings were consensual, according to him, or violent rape, such as the complainants allege. .
In their last appearance before the jury on Friday, prosecutors said that what happened in the hotel rooms in the Toronto area of Hoggard was not what any of the complainants wanted, but what the singer wanted.
“That’s not consent,” Crown attorney Jill Witkin said.
“Mr. Hoggard acted as a right-wing sexual opportunist, someone who sought his own sexual gratification without regard to the (whistleblower’s) limits, “he said. the pain and the wounded, “he added.
Hoggard said he was confident the two complainants consented, but could not specify how they expressed that consent, saying it was based on sounds and body language but did not provide details about what they were, Witkin said.
He also said he had no detailed record of the meetings or what specific acts were involved, although he acknowledged that some of those described by the complainants, such as spitting, slapping and calling them derogatory names, could have happened because they were part of his. sexual repertoire, the prosecutor said.
Meanwhile, Witkin said, the facts described by two complainants – two women who have never met or talked to each other – shared a number of similarities beyond the specific sexual acts they alleged took place.
They both recalled communicating with Hoggard via text messages, Snapchat and phone calls that led to the encounters, and received a video of him masturbating in the bathroom, the prosecutor said. They both said he was kind and praiseworthy until the incidents, which led them to trust him, he said.
They both described a drastic transformation in their behavior once in the hotel room, Witkin said. And they both said Hoggard sent them messages afterwards “as if nothing had happened,” telling them he was having a good time and that he couldn’t wait to see them again, he said.
“It simply came to our notice then. This is not an unfair turn of fate facing Mr. Hoggard, “she said, arguing that the women’s accounts were” unusually and surprisingly similar. “
Hoggard’s lawyers, however, told the jury that the musician may have been great and disrespectful to women, but that he is not a “sadistic serial rapist.”
Defense attorney Megan Savard portrayed her client as an insecure, starving rock star who routinely succumbed to the temptation and easy validation of one-night stands for more than a decade of touring with Hedley, even when he was in a relationship.
But he said Hoggard did not rape the complainants. “He did not delight in his struggles, he is not a monster, he is a flawed human being,” he said in his final communications.
“Her fame and power gave her the ability to engage in harmful behavior and two women were hurt by her cruel approach to their sexual intercourse,” she said.
“But Mr Hoggard is not on trial for breaking hearts or disrespecting women, he is not on trial for being arrogant with his feelings. He has already admitted it and paid the price.”
The fact that Hoggard left each complainant alone in a hotel room without a key while taking a shower, and that he received a call and requested room service during the meeting with the second complainant, is “much more consistent with sex. consent that with sadistic rape “, the defense. said the lawyer.
Savard argued that the complainants made up the rape allegations because they were “too many and ashamed of the way Mr Hoggard dismissed them” and the stigma of admitting they regretted a consensual encounter was “too painful”.
He also suggested that the complainants “needed a nice story to tell that would allow them to save face” with their close friends and family, and although they initially never planned to contact police in 2018, the pressure to do so -it began to increase.
“They had lived with their lies for so long that they had to keep going,” he said.
Hoggard, 37, pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one count of sexual interference, one count of touching the sexual touch of a person under the age of 16.
The allegation of sexual interference refers to the allegations made by the youngest complainant behind the scenes after a show by Hedley in Toronto when she was still 15 years old.
The youngest whistleblower, a longtime Hedley fan who met Hoggard at the age of 12, said they began communicating directly after chatting at a dating event in April 2016.
A few weeks later, she arranged for her and two friends to come to the Toronto show and gave them backstage access, the court heard. The complainant alleged that he touched her buttocks repeatedly while taking pictures and then tried to kiss her neck.
The defense argued that there was no palpitations, and noted that there was no indication of anything wrong with the photos taken that night.
Prosecutors said a friend testified that she saw Hoggard trying to kiss the teen’s cheek or neck, and the complainant tried to push him away.
They added a text that Hoggard sent to the teen the next day, in which he said he wanted her in bed, a sign that he was sexually interested in her, and jurors should take this into account when assessing. if the touch after the concert was sexual in nature. nature.
Hoggard stated earlier this week that he did not sexually touch the complainant until after she turned 16, adding that she made a point of knowing when she would reach that milestone because it is the age of consent.
In his contributions, Witkin pointed to Hoggard’s text messages with the complainant, in which he referred to waiting until he was 18 and immediately told her that it didn’t matter. “Mr. Hoggard thought 18 was the age of consent at the time and did not intend to meet it, “he argued.
The teenager agreed to meet with Hoggard on September 30, 2016, testifying that he believed they would be shopping or sightseeing. She testified in her testimony that once in her hotel room, Hoggard raped her vaginally and orally and tried to do so anal. She said she physically resisted, but Hoggard caught her.
The second complainant stated that he first met the singer on the Tinder dating app and, after being in contact for a few weeks, agreed to meet with him in Toronto to have sex on November 22. 2016.
But instead of having consensual sex, she was raped anal, vaginally and orally, and at one point given by her legs she was dragged to the bathroom, she told the court.
They both alleged that Hoggard spat in their mouths, slapped them, and gave them derogatory names. They also said that it limited their breathing: the first complainant alleged that he pushed her face against the pillows until she thought she would faint, and the second complainant said that she drowned her so much that she feared for her life. .
The Ottawa woman also alleged that Hoggard asked her to urinate and then said she would originate, which she refused.
Hoggard testified that he had consensual and “passionate” sex with each of the complainants. While acknowledging that he could not remember the details of the meetings, he said that his practice was to pay close attention to the verbal and non-verbal cues of his partners, and that part of his satisfaction came from seeing them enjoy. .
The jury could begin its deliberations on Tuesday.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 27, 2022.