Complainant in Hoggard trial seemed in pain after alleged sex assault, friend says

A Toronto court is hearing from a close friend of one of the complainants in the sex assault trial of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard.

The woman says her friend, who is the second complainant in the case, called her shortly after the alleged sexual assault in November 2016 and sounded "distraught."

She says she went to see her friend in person the following day and could barely recognize the woman she saw, noting her friend was limping and appeared to be in pain.

Earlier today, the defence finished its questioning of the second complainant. Neither of the complainants can be identified under a publication ban, nor can their friends and relatives.

Hoggard has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one of sexual interference, a charge that refers to the sexual touching of a person under 16.

An agreed statement of facts says Hoggard had a sexual encounter with each complainant on separate occasions in the fall of 2016.

The second complainant, who is from Ottawa, testified earlier this week that she came across the Hedley frontman on the dating app Tinder in November 2016 and, later that month, agreed to meet him in Toronto where they planned to have sex.

She said once she joined him at a hotel, Hoggard raped her anally, vaginally and orally, and at one point choked her hard enough she thought she might die.

Defence lawyers have suggested she was injured during consensual sex and made up rape allegations after Hoggard lost interest in her.

The other complainant, who was 16 at the time, has testified Hoggard raped her vaginally and orally, and attempted to do so anally, in September 2016.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 13, 2022.