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Jurors have been confronted with two vastly totally different portrayals of Jacob Hoggard on Friday, with prosecutors portray the Canadian musician as a “sexual opportunist” who refused to take no for a solution and defence legal professionals describing him as an insecure celeb who used ladies for meaningless however consensual intercourse.
Hoggard, the frontman for the band Hedley, has acknowledged having intercourse with a teenage fan and a younger Ottawa lady within the fall of 2016, leaving jurors to find out whether or not the encounters have been consensual, as he says, or violent rapes, because the complainants allege.
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Prosecutors allege Hedley frontman lied about having consensual intercourse with teen, lady
Of their closing pitch to the jury Friday, prosecutors stated what occurred in Hoggard’s Toronto-area resort rooms wasn’t what both of the complainants wished, however it was what the singer wished.
“That’s not consent,” Crown legal professional Jill Witkin stated.
“Mr. Hoggard acted as an entitled sexual opportunist, somebody who sought his personal sexual gratification with no regard for (the complainants’) boundaries,” she stated. He was “on a mission to hold by way of together with his sexual preferences within the face of resistance and ache and damage,” she added.
Hoggard testified he was assured each complainants consented however couldn’t specify how they expressed that consent, saying that he relied on sounds and physique language however offering no particulars on what these have been, Witkin stated.
He additionally stated he had no detailed recollections of the encounters or what explicit acts have been concerned, although he acknowledged a few of what the complainants described — akin to spitting, slapping and calling them derogatory names — could have occurred since these have been a part of his sexual repertoire, the prosecutor stated.
In the meantime, Witkin stated, the occasions described by two complainants — two ladies who’ve by no means met or spoken with one another — shared quite a few similarities past the particular sexual acts they alleged occurred.
Each recalled speaking with Hoggard by way of textual content, Snapchat and telephone calls main as much as the encounters, and receiving a video of him masturbating in a rest room, the prosecutor stated. Each stated he was variety and complimentary till the incidents, which led them to belief him, she stated.
Each described a drastic transformation in his behaviour as soon as contained in the resort room, Witkin stated. And each stated Hoggard despatched them messages afterwards “as if nothing had occurred,” telling them he had fun and couldn’t wait to see them once more, she stated.
“This isn’t a coincidence. This isn’t some unfair coincidence raging in opposition to Mr. Hoggard,” she stated, arguing the ladies’s accounts have been “unusually and strikingly related.”
Hoggard’s legal professionals, nevertheless, instructed the jury the musician could have been cavalier and disrespectful in direction of ladies, however he isn’t a “sadistic serial rapist.”
Defence lawyer Megan Savard portrayed her shopper as an insecure, attention-starved rock star who routinely succumbed to the temptation and straightforward validation of one-night stands over greater than a decade of touring with Hedley, even when in a relationship.
However she stated Hoggard didn’t rape the complainants. “He didn’t take delight of their struggles, he isn’t a monster, he’s a flawed human being,” she stated in her closing submissions.
“His fame and energy gave him the capability to have interaction in hurtful conduct and two ladies have been damage by his callous method to their sexual relationships,” she stated.
“However Mr. Hoggard just isn’t on trial for breaking hearts or disrespecting ladies, he isn’t on trial for being cavalier with their emotions. He has already admitted and paid the worth for that.”
The truth that Hoggard left every complainant alone in an unlocked resort room whereas he showered, and that he took a name and ordered room service throughout the encounter with the second complainant, is “much more in step with consensual intercourse than sadistic rape,” the defence lawyer stated.
Savard argued the complainants made up the rape allegations as a result of they have been “upset and embarrassed by the best way Mr. Hoggard dismissed them” and the stigma of admitting they regretted a consensual encounter was “too painful.”
She additional instructed the complainants “wanted a sympathetic story to inform that may permit them to avoid wasting face” with their shut family and friends, and whereas they by no means initially deliberate to contact police, by 2018, the stress to take action started to mount.
“They’d lived with their lies for thus lengthy they needed to comply with by way of,” she stated.
Hoggard, 37, has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of sexual assault inflicting bodily hurt and considered one of sexual interference, a cost that refers back to the sexual touching of somebody beneath 16.
The sexual interference cost pertains to allegations that he groped the youthful complainant backstage after a Hedley present in Toronto when she was nonetheless 15.
The youthful complainant, a longtime Hedley fan who first met Hoggard at age 12, stated they started speaking instantly after chatting at a meet-and-greet occasion in April 2016.
A number of weeks later, he organized to have her and two mates come to the Toronto present and gave them backstage entry, court docket has heard. The complainant alleged he repeatedly touched her buttocks whereas taking pictures and later tried to kiss her neck.
The defence argued there was no groping, noting there was no signal of something amiss within the pictures taken that night time.
Prosecutors stated a good friend testified she noticed Hoggard attempt to kiss the teenager’s cheek or neck, and the complainant attempt to push him off.
They added a textual content Hoggard despatched the teenager the subsequent day, during which he stated he wished her in his mattress, was an indication he was sexually eager about her, and jurors ought to take into account that in assessing whether or not the touching after the live performance was of a sexual nature.
Hoggard testified earlier this week that he didn’t contact the complainant sexually till after she turned 16, including he made a degree to know when she would attain that milestone as a result of it’s the age of consent.
In her submissions, Witkin pointed to Hoggard’s textual content messages with the complainant, during which he referenced ready till she turned 18 then instantly instructed her it didn’t matter. “Mr. Hoggard thought 18 was the age of consent at the moment and he didn’t intend to abide by it,” she argued.
The teenager agreed to fulfill up Hoggard on Sept. 30, 2016, testifying she believed they’d be procuring or sightseeing. She alleged in her testimony that when in his resort room, Hoggard raped her vaginally and orally and tried to take action anally. She stated she resisted bodily however Hoggard pinned her down.
The second complainant testified she first met the singer on the courting app Tinder and, after being in contact for just a few weeks, agreed to fulfill him in Toronto to have intercourse on Nov. 22, 2016.
However as an alternative of getting consensual intercourse, she was raped anally, vaginally and orally, and at one level dragged by the legs into the toilet, she instructed the court docket.
Each alleged Hoggard spit of their mouths, slapped them and known as them derogatory names. Additionally they stated he restricted their respiration: the primary complainant alleged he pushed her face into the pillows till she thought she would cross out, and the second complainant stated he choked her so onerous she feared for her life.
The Ottawa lady additionally alleged Hoggard requested her to urinate on him after which stated he would urinate on her, each of which she refused.
Hoggard testified he had consensual, “passionate” intercourse with every of the complainants. Whereas he acknowledged that he couldn’t recall particulars of the encounters, he stated it was his observe to pay shut consideration to his companions’ verbal and non-verbal cues, and that a part of his satisfaction got here from seeing them take pleasure in themselves.
The jury might start its deliberations as early as Tuesday.
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