Woman in Hockey Canada sex assault trial 'has shown resilience,' says lawyer who settled her civil case

WARNING: This article contains graphic details, references sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.

The London lawyer who represented the woman in the Hockey Canada civil lawsuit settlement says he's closely watching the sexual assault trial underway in the southwestern Ontario city, and he believes she was a credible witness in her more than one week of testimony.

Robert Talach isn't involved at all in the criminal trial centring on the allegations by his former client. To protect her identity under a standard publication ban, she's known as E.M. in the criminal case against the five former world junior hockey players, who've all pleaded not guilty.

Talach is no longer E.M.'s lawyer and says he hasn't spoken with her in years. 

CBC News spoke to him as the sexual assault trial was nearing its end, with legal arguments by the defence and Crown, after almost eight weeks of proceedings. Justice Maria Carroccia will hand down her decisions on July 24.

In the interview on Wednesday, Talach said of E.M.: "She's a stronger person than I remember. Remember, this is a tiny little 5-foot-4, 140-pound, quiet-as-a-church mouse woman.

"I think the unfortunate thing is the public doesn't get to meet her or see her. And when you understand her personality and you understand her a little bit more, it all makes a lot more sense."

Talach is a senior partner at Beckett Personal Injury Lawyers and leads the department for sexual abuse cases. He was contacted by the woman soon after the alleged sexual assaults in a London hotel room in June 2018. 

She retained Talach to launch the civil suit against Hockey Canada after the initial London police investigation was closed in 2019. Talach stopped representing her in May 2023 after a settlement from the sports body was reached. 

Michael McLeod, 27, Carter Hart, 26, Alex Formenton, 25, Dillon Dubé, 26,  and Cal Foote, 26, are all charged with sexual assault in June 2018. E.M. testified early into the trial that she only had to consensual sex once with McLeod and didn't agree to the sexual activity that happened after that. McLeod is also charged with, and has pleaded not guilty to, being a party to the offence for allegedly inviting other men to the room for sex. 

The Crown alleges that McLeod, Hart and Dubé obtained oral sex from E.M., that Dubé also slapped her on her naked buttocks while she was engaged in a sexual act with someone else, that Formenton had vaginal sex with her in the bathroom, and that Foote did the splits over her face while she lay on the ground and his bare genitals grazed her face — all without her consent.

Talach has particularly followed E.M.'s testimony and cross-examination. He says she appeared calm and credible.

"People need to understand that the totality of the events here are probably less than seven hours [of her testifying], but she was questioned for seven days on those. So you're talking about a full day of questioning for every hour of events," Talach said, adding cross-examinations were conducted by some of the best criminal defence lawyers "money can muster."

In their closing statements, defence lawyers attacked E.M.'s testimony as containing a "cornucopia of credibility and reliability concerns." They presented as an exhibit, a 30-page document listing what they say are concerns in her testimony.