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Jurors began their deliberations Tuesday in the sexual assault trial of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts spent several hours earlier in the day laying out the legal principles the jury must apply in considering the evidence.
Hoggard, 37, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one of sexual interference, a charge that relates to the sexual touching of someone under 16.
Prosecutors allege the Hedley frontman violently and repeatedly raped a teenage fan and a young Ottawa woman in Toronto-area hotel rooms in separate incidents in the fall of 2016.
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They also allege he groped the teen backstage after a Hedley show in Toronto in April 2016, when she was still 15.
The Crown has highlighted several similarities in the accounts delivered by the complainants, two women who have never met or spoken to each other.
Among those similarities are allegations that Hoggard spat on them, slapped them and called them derogatory names such as “slut” and “whore” during the encounter. Prosecutors say jurors should consider the similarities as indicating a pattern of behaviour.
Defence lawyers allege the groping never happened and the sexual encounters were consensual. They allege the complainants lied about being raped to cover up their embarrassment after being rejected by a “rock star.”
The defence also says any similarities between the complainants’ accounts can be attributed to Hoggard’s lifestyle at the time.
In his testimony last week, Hoggard said he did not have detailed memories of the encounters with the complainants, but that he was certain they consented based on their verbal and non-verbal cues.
He told the court he did not remember spitting, slapping or calling the complainants names, but that those things could have happened since they were among his sexual preferences.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
