WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect people who have been sexually abused or know someone affected by it.
Jacob Hoggard, the former leader of the rock band Hedley, is facing a new rape complaint related to a meeting in June 2016 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.
Hoggard was charged in March with sexual assault that caused bodily harm to a 19-year-old woman at the time.
Judicial documents indicate that the alleged assault took place on June 25, 2016, when the gang led the Homecoming Week celebrations in the northern city of Ontario, located about 300 miles north of Ontario. is from Sudbury.
In an exclusive interview with CBC News, the complainant alleged that Hoggard was forced to do so six years ago at the Comfort Inn in Kirkland Lake, where the band was staying.
“I knew what I was doing was wrong and I did it anyway,” said the woman, who is now 25 and lives in British Columbia. His identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
A woman from Kirkland Lake, Ontario, who now lives in BC, and whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban, alleges that Hoggard raped her in June 2016 after a concert by Hedley during City Homecoming Week. He was 19 at the time. Hoggard denies the charge. (Judy Trinh / CBC News)
After filing a formal complaint with police in February, the woman said she was “relieved” to have taken steps to hold Hoggard accountable.
In an email, Hoggard’s attorney, Megan Savard, says her client denies the alleged 2016 assault.
“Mr. Hoggard is innocent,” wrote Savard, who turned down a request for an interview with CBC. “He will plead not guilty. He has no further comment as this case is before the courts.”
Hoggard’s upcoming Kirkland Lake indictment is scheduled for August 4.
The verdict is expected in a separate case of sexual assault
In June 2016, BC’s wife, a Hedley fan, was waiting for a moment to talk about music and play guitar with Hoggard. Instead, he claims he raped her and degraded her.
“I did not consent to sexual intercourse. I kept saying ‘No, no. Father’ over and over again,” the woman said as she recalled the alleged assault.
“I felt helpless.”
The new charge comes as Hoggard, 37, awaits a verdict in a trial in Toronto, where he faces two other charges of sexual assault causing bodily harm.
One count is related to an Ottawa woman and the other to a 16-year-old girl from the Greater Toronto Area at the time. These alleged assaults occurred in the fall of 2016. He also faces a charge of sexual interference in relation to the adolescent. He has pleaded not guilty to three counts.
Hoggard took up his position in self-defense at the Toronto trial, which began on May 2.
Since she was first charged with sexual assault four years ago, Hoggard’s music career has imploded and Hedley is no longer together. He said he now works as a carpenter and is married and has a young son.
Hoggard told the court he had acted cruelly in the past during numerous one-night stands, but said he was not guilty of a felony. A verdict is expected at the Toronto trial soon.
Hoggard, 37, is seen with his wife, Rebekah Asselstine, on the right, and attorney Megan Savard, in the center, arriving in a Toronto court on May 6 for trial for sexual assault. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault with bodily harm and one count of sexual interference. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
Police did not name Hoggard
According to Ontario provincial police, on March 2, 2022, Hoggard, accompanied by his lawyer, surrendered to the South Porcupine OPP detachment in Timmins, Ontario, about 140 miles west of Kirkland Lake.
He was arrested, charged and later released on bail.
Although he was named in court documents, Hoggard was not identified by OPP in a March press release when he said he was charged with a 37-year-old Vancouver man in connection with a sexual assault in 2016.
The complainant provided CBC with emails asking police to release Hoggard’s name. Instead, he said an investigator told her that they did not name the singer to protect her identity. The woman no longer lives in Ontario and is not listed in court documents.
Provincial police say the decision not to appoint Hoggard was made after consultation with senior management.
“The fact that the two people involved don’t live in the same community was a factor we took into account, but in the end, the safety and security of the victim is our end result,” said Bill Dickson, the manager. depending on the OPP. media relations, in an email.
“The profile or job of a defendant is not the deciding factor.”
Hoggard’s attorney declined to answer CBC’s questions about the arrest.
“We do not litigate cases in the media and this case is no exception. What we have to say will be said in court,” Savard said.
“I should have reported it a long time ago”
The BC woman said she had previously raised plans to report what happened to police in 2018, when allegations of misconduct towards young fans first appeared on social media during the Cageless album tour. of the band.
In February 2018, before other allegations of sexual assault were published, the BC woman also spoke with a CBC reporter, but eventually decided not to share her story.
“I should have reported him a long time ago, but I was worried that no one would believe me because I was a celebrity,” said the woman, who now feels more confident when it comes to presenting herself.
Since the alleged assault, he has graduated from college and found solace in a new relationship.
“Now I have a partner who supports me, and it’s very helpful. It makes me feel stronger,” the woman said. But, he said, he still has nightmares about what happened.
CBC cannot independently verify the account of the woman’s events, but has confirmed that Hedley gang members stayed at the Comfort Inn when they visited Kirkland Lake in 2016.
CBC reporters also saw a selfie of the 19-year-old woman and Hoggard taken at a party after that night’s concert.
A selfie of Hoggard and the complainant was taken around a campfire at a forest party behind the gang’s hotel in Kirkland Lake in the early hours of the morning of June 25, 2016. The complainant’s face ‘has blurred to protect his identity. (Submitted by the complainant)
From the concert to the alleged assault
On June 24, 2016, the woman attended Hedley’s concert at Kirkland Lake Community Center with a family member. After the concert, they boarded a van carrying fans to the Comfort Inn to party with the band. The woman’s relative left before her.
As he spent time at a campfire in the woods behind the hotel, the woman said, he drank several Coors Lite beers with the band. She got drunk and said that was when Hoggard took her to the hotel room.
Once inside, the complainant saw several guitars and hoped that she and Hoggard could “get stuck” together. She said he accused her of being “talking, talking,” took out her phone, and then assaulted her.
He acted as if he were my landlord, as if he could do whatever he wanted.
Despite his attempts to refute his advances, he said, he took off his clothes and took a nude photo of her without her consent. He then undressed, revealing tattoos of a snake and what looked like a panther on his body.
“He acted like he was my owner, like he could do whatever he wanted,” he said.
The woman said Hoggard wanted to know how old he was. He said he told her he was 19 and pushed the singer as he tried to kiss her. She said she fought her attempt to penetrate her anal, but was raped vaginally.
“I was fighting with him all the time. I felt trapped while he was on top of me. He was very strong,” the woman said.
He told CBC he called for it to stop.
Suffocation and slapping allegations
During the alleged assault, the woman said, Hoggard alternated between calling her a “dirty piglet” and a “good girl.”
The woman allegedly drowned her during sex and slapped her, leaving a red imprint on her thigh “which lasted a week”.
After the alleged assault, the complainant said she felt so nauseous that she went to the bathroom to vomit.
When she went into the shower to wash herself, the woman said, “Hoggard went into the bathroom and asked if he could urinate.” She said she refused, but that he urinated on her stomach anyway.
“It made me sick and sad,” the woman said.
“She was just a normal girl who was going to meet a celebrity and talk for a few minutes and then that happens.”
View of the sliding doors of the hotel rooms opening onto the Comfort Inn car park at Kirkland Lake. The woman alleges that she was sexually assaulted by Hoggard at the hotel on June 25, 2016. (Jimmy Chabot / CBC)
To cope, the complainant destroyed her diary
The complainant said Hoggard did not use a condom during the sexual assault.
When it came time to pay, the woman waited for Hoggard to pay for a taxi. Instead, he told her to stay in the room for 30 minutes after she left and to go out the backyard door.
He said some members of the gang and crew may have seen him walking home. CBC’s previous attempts to locate these people to verify their account were unsuccessful.
In an attempt to deal with the trauma, the woman said she burned the diary where she wrote about her feelings in the days following the concert.
A few days after the alleged assault, the woman said, she went to the Kirkland Lake Health Center for an ETS test, which she said was negative. CBC has not been able to verify whether there is evidence of a visit to the center.
In addition to the police, the woman said she has only talked about what happened to her current partner, a mental health counselor and the CBC.
The woman’s partner confirmed to CBC that he told her last summer what had allegedly happened and that he encouraged her to go to the police.
He said that he deleted the videos he made of the concert …