World junior hockey sexual assault case moves forward in court

A Superior Court judge has taken over the case of five former junior champion hockey players charged with sexual assault in London, Ont. And hearings were continuing Tuesday as the case moves toward a trial.

The five hockey players or their lawyers were due in court here this morning for a routine hearing to ensure the case is progressing.

Instead that was changed to a judicial pre-trial in front of a senior superior court judge.

It allows the judge to provide an assessment of the evidence for the lawyers as they prepare for trial. And its private, none of the details can be reported. It was being done virtually.

The players are Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Michael McLeod and Alex Formenton.

All of them play professionally and are current or former hockey players.

They were on the team that won the World Junior Championship in London in 2018.

READ MORE: Former world junior hockey players charged with sexual assault choose jury trial

They’re charged with sexual assault in a London hotel room following a celebration of their win.

Police initially investigated the allegations but closed the case in 2019.

In February, the London police chief apologized to the woman involved as the case was re-opened.

“My sincerest apology to the victim to her family for the amount of time it has taken to reach this point,” police said.

At the time police did not say what new evidence led to the decision to lay the charges.

Defence lawyers for the players say they’re “confident that jurors drawn from the community will decide this case fairly and impartially after hearing all the evidence,” and chose a trial by jury as the case proceeds.

As that process goes on the next hearing is set for May 14 to set a date for a trial or whatever the next step is in this process.