Jacob Hoggard sexual assault trial: Complainant to proceed testimony of Hedley singer

TORONTO — A younger girl alleged to have been sexually assaulted by Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard when she was an adolescent is anticipated to proceed her testimony at his trial right now.

The lady, who first took the stand Thursday afternoon, is certainly one of two complainants within the case. Neither could be recognized beneath a publication ban.

Prosecutors allege Hoggard, the frontman for the rock band Hedley, violently raped the 2 ladies after bringing them to Toronto-area inns in separate incidents in 2016. Each complainants had travelled from out of city to see him.

An agreed assertion of information says Hoggard had a “sexual encounter” with every of the complainants on the times they got here to his resort.

The singer has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of sexual assault inflicting bodily hurt and certainly one of sexual interference, a cost that refers back to the sexual touching of somebody beneath the age of 16.

In her testimony Thursday, the complainant described assembly Hoggard in a resort car parking zone after an out-of-town live performance she attended at age 12, and beginning to talk straight with him after a meet-and-greet occasion when she was 15.

She informed the court docket their conversations grew extra sexual over time, significantly after they began utilizing Snapchat, an app the place messages and pictures are solely briefly seen. Finally the pair exchanged nude photographs, and Hoggard despatched her a video of himself masturbating, she testified.

The lady mentioned Hoggard additionally despatched her romantic messages, saying he beloved her and noticed a future together with her. “It felt nearly like a relationship,” she informed the court docket Thursday.

A number of weeks after they started texting, he organized for her and two associates to return see Hedley in Toronto and gave them backstage passes, she mentioned.

As soon as backstage, she mentioned Hoggard touched her buttocks repeatedly, which made her uncomfortable. She mentioned she tried to maneuver away or seize his wrist within the hopes that he would perceive she wished him to cease.

Prosecutors allege the 2 later made plans to satisfy in Toronto in September, after the complainant had turned 16. They allege Hoggard had her delivered to his resort in Mississauga, Ont., and repeatedly raped her over a number of hours.

In its opening assertion Thursday, the Crown mentioned the second complainant met Hoggard in November after crossing paths with him on Tinder whereas Hedley was in Ottawa.

Later that month, they made plans to satisfy in Toronto, and the Crown alleges Hoggard raped her “time and again” throughout an hours-long encounter in his downtown resort.

Each complainants have been left bleeding, bruised and sore, prosecutors allege.