MANDEL: Hedley singer Jacob Hoggard raped two victims ‘over and over,’ Crown alleges

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Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard “violently raped” two victims — one a teenaged fan — “over and over” in his hotel room in 2016, a jury has been told in the Crown’s explosive opening statement.

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Crown attorney Kelly Slate told jurors they will hear evidence that Hoggard befriended a 15-year-old fan who had been coming to his concerts with her parents since she was 10. When she was a preteen, her parents took her to a Hedley concert in Kirkland Lake where they befriended the band in the hotel parking lot.

Hoggard and his young fan began texting each other when she was 15 and he told her that he loved her and arranged for her to attend an ACC concert with just her friends, Slate said.

“At that concert, she was too young to legally consent to sexual touching,” the prosecutor said. “He tried to kiss her on the neck and he grabbed her bum when they posed for a photo.”

After she turned 16, following many flirtatious text messages where Hoggard told her that she was beautiful and they had a future together, he arranged for her to meet him in Toronto on Sept. 30, 2016 for what she thought would be a “day in the big city,” Slate said.

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Instead, he took her to his hotel room at the Sheraton Gateway at the airport where he allegedly forced himself on her, “violently raping her over and over” and unsuccessfully tried to rape her anally, the prosecutor alleged.

In an attack that lasted hours, Hoggard slapped her, spit in her mouth and called her names, the Crown said, and pushed her face into the pillow where she couldn’t breathe.

“She was crying and said ‘No,’” the prosecutor said. “She did not consent to what Jacob Hoggard did to her.”

She got away by pretending that she had been called into work and had to leave early. “She was bleeding and sore. She had bruises between her legs and on her back,” Slate said.

Hoggard has pleaded not guilty to sexual interference and sexual assault causing bodily harm in relation to the teen.

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The second complainant met Hoggard in November 2016 while he was in Ottawa performing at We Day and she recognized his photo on Tinder, Slate told jurors. They began communicating over texts and Snapchat and he invited her backstage at We Day but she turned him down.

They continued to chat and Hoggard asked her to meet him in Toronto and he arranged for her transportation, Slate said. “She understood that they would be having sex but when she got to his hotel room, Jacob Hoggard forced himself on her and violently raped her over and over.

“It was not what she anticipated or wanted. She was crying and she said ‘No.’ She did not consent to what Jacob Hoggard did to her.”

“He repeatedly raped her — vaginally, orally and anally,” the prosecutor alleged. “He repeatedly slapped her, spit in her mouth and called her names. He choked her so she couldn’t breathe, dragged her to the bathroom by her legs.”

Hoggard has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault causing bodily harm in relation to the second complainant.

The trial continues.

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