TORONTO –
Warning: This story contains disturbing details
Jacob Hogard, the frontman of the Canadian band Hedley, was found guilty of sexually abusing a woman from Ottawa, but acquitted on the same charges against a teenage fan.
Hogard, 37, was also found not guilty of sexual intercourse, an accusation of sexually touching a person under the age of 16, in an incident with the same fan when she was 15 years old.
The singer, who was wearing a dark suit, hugged his wife in the courtroom after the verdict was read.
Prosecutors say Hogard groped the teen after a Hadley show in Toronto in April 2016, then forcibly raped her in a hotel room in the Toronto area later that year after she turned 16. They allege that he then raped the Ottawa woman at a hotel in Toronto in November 2016.
Both applicants testified that they were left with bleeding and bruising. Each of them said that Hogard slapped them, spat in their mouths and called them derogatory names like “slut” and “whore” during the meetings, and that at one point he restricted their breathing.
The younger applicant said Hoghard pushed her face into the pillows until she thought she would faint, while the Ottawa woman said he strangled her so badly that she feared she would die. The second applicant also said that Hoghard had once dragged her by the legs into the bathroom and asked her to urinate on him, after which he said that he would urinate on her, but she refused both.
The crown called on jurors to consider the similarities between the events, recalled by two women who had never met or talked to each other, claiming they reflected a pattern of behavior.
Hogard, meanwhile, testified during the trial that he had sex by mutual consent with the applicants and that he did not sexually touch the teenager until she was 16 years old.
“I knew when she turned 16,” Hogard said, adding that he made sure he was responsible and not breaking the law. ”
He denied choking or restricting the applicants’ breathing, but said some of the other things they described – including slapping, spitting, naming and urinating – were among his sexual preferences and could therefore happen. He described the kind of slap he liked as a gentle pat.
He testified that his recollection of the meetings was unclear, but he knew that the applicants had agreed on the basis of their verbal and non-verbal signals and because it was his practice to pay attention to his sexual partners.
Defense attorneys say the women lied about being raped after Hoghard rejected them because they were embarrassed and upset that he used them for sex.
The jury, which appears to consist of 10 men and two women, began deliberations last Tuesday and twice said it was at a dead end on “some” points. Each time the jurors were asked to keep trying. They continued to replay most of the testimony given by the two applicants and Hogard, and asked several questions on legal issues, many of which were consensual.
As Hogard admitted to having sex with both applicants, the case turned to the issue of consent, leaving jurors to determine whether the meetings were violent rapes, as claimed by the applicants, or overnight agreements, according to the singer.
The jurors were told that if they found that the applicants did not agree, they must have “little difficulty” in concluding that Hogard knew or deliberately ignored the fact that they did not agree.
During the approximately one-month trial, jurors heard dramatically different images of Hoghard, a musician whose band Hadley became famous after becoming third on the 2004 reality show Canadian Idol.
Hogard’s lawyers describe him as an insecure man with a flaw who seeks confirmation from women through frequent one-night stands on tour, even while in a relationship. He had amassed a list of women in different cities and would contact them when he was in the city, sometimes arranging transportation to bring them to his hotel, they said.
The singer may have been a gentleman to women and inattentive to their feelings, but he is not a “sadistic serial rapist,” defense attorney Megan Savard said in his closing remarks to the jury.
She said Hogard has no detailed recollection of the meetings underlying the process because they are just two of the countless agreements he has had over the years.
The fact that he did not try to prevent the applicants from leaving the hotel or pressuring them to keep the meetings secret is much more compatible with sex by mutual consent than with forced rape, Savard said.
The Crown, for its part, portrays Hogard as a “competent sexual opportunist” who does not think he should accept “no” as an answer when it comes to satisfying his “unusual” sexual desires.
Prosecutor Jill Whitkin said in recent statements that the singer could not specify what sounds or gestures the complainants had made to signal consent, especially actions such as slapping or spitting.
None of the applicants wanted what happened in those hotel rooms, but Hoghard did it and he acted on it, she said.
The Crown also claims that Hogard lied to get out of difficult situations, as well as with the complainants and the romantic partners he cheated on.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 5, 2022.
Have you experienced sexual violence while seeking support? The Canadian Women’s Foundation has a list of national and provincial resources for those in need, which can be found here.
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