Crown still seeking to cross-examine its witness
Hello. My name is Mark Gollom and I’m a senior reporter. I’ll be reporting from the courtroom today.
This morning, court is expected to continue to be focused on legal arguments over the Crown wanting to cross-examine Brett Howden, its own witness.
Howden is 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.
Justice Maria Carroccia has not yet ruled on the Crown’s request. But on Wednesday, Carroccia ruled that there were some inconsistencies in Howden’s testimony.
However, she concluded that Howden was not feigning lack of memory or being insincere about whether he has a recollection of his earlier statements or particulars of the events he has been asked to describe.
That ruling came in the wake of the Crown’s application under Section 9(2) of the Canada Evidence Act. That would allow the Crown to cross-examine Howden.
Carroccia said she found four instances in which there were inconsistencies in Howden’s testimony.
Assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham made the application to deal with what she said were 18 inconsistencies between Howden’s testimony Tuesday and what he had said in previous statements.
Throughout Tuesday’s testimony, 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 statements, Howden often testified that he still couldn’t recall the details.
