TORONTO –
Warning: This story contains disturbing allegations.
Prosecutors say Canadian musician Jacob Hoghard repeatedly and violently raped a teenager and a young woman in two separate incidents, months apart, leaving each of them bleeding, bruised and injured when they left his Toronto hotel.
In an introductory statement to the jury on Thursday, Royal Attorney Kelly Slate outlined the evidence prosecutors expect to appear in the singer’s trial over the next few weeks.
Each complainant is expected to testify that what happened at Hogard’s hotel room in the autumn of 2016 was not what she imagined or wanted, and that she “cried and said no” throughout the hours-long incident, Slate told the court.
A concerted statement read out in court on Thursday said Hogard had a “sexual encounter” with each of the applicants on the days they arrived at his hotel.
The musician pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one charge of sexual intercourse, a charge involving sexual contact with a person under 16 years of age.
Prosecutors said the court would hear that the first applicant was a longtime fan of Hadley, the Hogard-led group, and went to one of their shows for the first time at the age of 10.
The girl met Hogard after a show she visited with her parents on her 13th birthday, Slate said. Hogard exchanged phone numbers with the girl’s parents and, over time, helped them get tickets and passes behind the scenes for other Hadley shows, she said.
They began communicating directly after the girl copied Hogard’s number from her mother’s phone when she was 15, and the Crown said the messages had become “romantic and sexual in nature.”
Hogard “told her she was beautiful, that he loved her and that she saw a future with her,” Slate said.
Hogard arranged for the teenager to come to a Hadley show at the current Scotiabank Arena in Toronto in April 2016, sending a limousine to pick up the girl and two friends in their hometown north of the city, according to the agreed statement of facts.
The Crown claims that once behind the scenes the singer was “too attached” to the teenager, touching her buttocks and at one point tried to kiss her on the neck when she was too young to agree.
Months later, when the girl was 16, the two planned to meet in Toronto on one of her PA days, Crown said. Hogard drove a limousine to pick up the girl and take her to his hotel in Mississauga, Ont., Where prosecutors say he repeatedly raped her, tried anal sex, slapped her and spat in her mouth.
“It lasted several hours,” Slate said.
The girl left early after pretending to be called to work, then blocked Hoghard from texting her and never went to Hadley’s concert again, prosecutors said.
The agreed statement of facts states that the girl went to the hospital on October 12, 2016, nearly two weeks after the alleged incident.
The second complainant met with Hogard on Tinder when he was in Ottawa to introduce himself for WE Day, and the two began exchanging text messages and Snapchat, Crown said.
They planned to meet in Toronto in November 2016, and although the woman expected to have sex, she disagreed, Slate said.
Hogard bought tickets for the train so that the woman could come and see him in Toronto, according to the agreed statement of facts.
Prosecutors say Hogard raped the woman vaginally, anal and orally for several hours, slapped her, spat in her mouth and strangled her so she could not breathe. At one point, says the Crown, he dragged her to the foot bathroom.
The woman returned by train to Ottawa that evening and her roommates are expected to testify that she was “upset, crying and emotional” when she returned home, Slate said. One noticed that she could barely sit and had trouble walking, the Crown said.
She went to the doctor within a week of the alleged incident, according to the agreed statement of facts.
Hogard was arrested and charged in 2018, and a preliminary hearing was held the following year.
He was originally due to stand trial in January 2021, but the case was repeatedly postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed new trials for months.
None of the applicants could be identified under a ban on publication. The identities of several witnesses are also protected by the ban.
This Canadian Press report was first published on May 5, 2022.
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