Crown seeking to cross-examine own witness
Hello. My name is Mark Gollom and I’m a senior reporter with CBC News. I’ll be reporting from the courtroom today.
On Tuesday, court heard from Brett Howden, an NHL player for the Vegas Golden Knights and former teammate of the defendants.
Howden, who has not been charged with anything related to the case, was part of the celebration at Jack’s bar and also ended up in the London, Ont., hotel room where the alleged sexual assault took place.
Howden testified that the complainant, known as E.M, was the instigator of sexual activity in that room.
But assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham informed the court that she is making an application to the judge under Section 9(2) of the Canada Evidence Act in order to cross-examine her witness.
Cunningham said she is doing this to deal with what she believes are inconsistencies in the testimony of Howden, who is a Crown witness.
She is suggesting the testimony Howden gave on Tuesday does not match statements he gave to lawyers working on behalf of Hockey Canada to investigate the alleged assaults and to police.
Throughout the day, Cunningham asked Howden about certain incidents or details related to the alleged assaults.
When Howden said he couldn’t recall those details, Cunningham asked him to refer to prior statements he had made in interviews with investigators.
Despite referring to those past statements, Howden often testified that he still couldn’t recall the details.
