Defense attorneys told a Toronto jury Friday that Jacob Hoggard may have been a gentleman and disrespectful to women, but the Canadian musician is not a “sadistic serial rapist.”
In her final arguments, defense attorney Megan Savard portrayed her client as an insecure, attention-hungry rock star who routinely succumbed to the temptation and easy validation of one-night stands for more than ‘a decade of touring with the band Hedley, even when it was a relationship.
But Hoggard did not rape the two complainants in the case, Savard argued in his last appearance before the jury. “He didn’t delight in his struggles, he’s not a monster, he’s a flawed human being,” he said.
“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.”
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 Crown alleges that Hoggard violently and repeatedly raped a 16-year-old fan and a young woman in separate incidents in the fall of 2016.
The two women stated that they cried and said no during the meetings, which took place in hotels in the Toronto area.
The youngest complainant, a longtime Hedley fan who met Hoggard at the age of 12, testified that he raped her vaginally and orally and that he tried to do so anally on September 30, 2016. she physically resisted, but Hoggard immobilized her.
The second complainant, an Ottawa woman, testified that she agreed to meet with Hoggard 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 the legs. in the bathroom, he told the court.
They both alleged that Hoggard spat in their mouths, slapped them, and gave them derogatory names. They also said it limited their breathing: the first complainant alleged that he also pushed his face against the pillows, and the second complainant said that he drowned her so much that he feared for his life.
The Ottawa woman also alleged that Hoggard asked her to urinate on him, which she refused to do.
It is also alleged that Hoggard palpated the youngest complainant behind the scenes after a concert by Hedley in Toronto in April 2016, when she was still 15 years old.
Hoggard said earlier this week that he had consensual and “passionate” sex with each of the complainants at hotels in the Toronto area.
He acknowledged that some of the acts described by women, such as spitting, slapping and calling them derogatory names, may have happened because they were part of their sexual repertoire.
The Crown is expected to make its final submissions to the jury this afternoon and deliberations could begin as early as Tuesday.