Jacob Hoggard concludes testimony in sexual assault trial
CBC
WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
Jacob Hoggard wrapped up his time in the witness box in his sexual assault trial this morning after the Crown cross-examined him on apparent gaps in his memory.
Hoggard has pleaded not guilty and says he did not rape, choke or hit his accuser after his band Hedley's concert eight years ago, or call her names during the encounter as she alleges.
Prosecutor Peter Keen tried to poke holes in Hoggard's description of a consensual one-night stand, establishing that the musician doesn't have a clear memory of the beginning of the sexual activity or whether he may have asked to urinate on the complainant.
The ex-lead singer of the band told a jury this week that he and the complainant had a consensual one-night stand after flirting and kissing during a bonfire after-party following the Kirkland Lake, Ont., show.
Prosecutor Peter Keen tried to poke holes in Hoggard's description of the night during cross-examination late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
He established that Hoggard doesn't have a clear memory of the beginning of the sexual activity in his hotel room, whether there could have been attempted anal sex, as the complainant alleged, and whether Hoggard may have asked to urinate on the woman.
In the woman's earlier testimony, she described feeling disgusted when, she said, Hoggard joined her in the shower following the alleged rape and asked if he could urinate on her. She said she told him no, but he did it, anyway.
Hoggard has said the opposite happened. He said Tuesday that after the two engaged in oral sex in the bathtub, he asked her to urinate on him and she did so.
Keen tried to suggest to Hoggard that the urination would have been "much more in keeping with a coercive sexual encounter," but defence lawyer Megan Savard objected.
"To suggest that certain types of sexual acts are inherently less consensual I think is highly problematic," she said.
The prosecutor tried to rephrase the question, but Savard rose for a second time.
WATCH | Hoggard takes stand in sexual assault trial:
"I'm going to object again, perhaps on behalf of every person in society who has any kind of fringe sexual practice," she said. "I think this is an offensive line of questioning."
