TORONTO — The intercourse assault trial of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard is ready to get underway after a number of delays attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jury choice within the case is anticipated to begin this morning at a downtown Toronto courthouse.
Hoggard, the frontman for the band Hedley, pleaded not responsible to sexual assault inflicting bodily hurt and sexual interference throughout a two-day preliminary listening to in the summertime of 2019.
He selected to be tried by a jury fairly than a choose alone, and was initially scheduled to face trial in January 2021.
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Jacob Hoggard trial: Hedley frontman intercourse assault trial set to start in Might
However public well being measures meant to curb the unfold of COVID-19 prompted the courts to place new jury trials on maintain for months at a time throughout the pandemic, and the trial was pushed again on a number of events.
It’s now scheduled to run till early June.
Hoggard was arrested and charged in 2018 for alleged incidents involving a lady and an adolescent that police have mentioned befell within the Toronto space in 2016. The complainants can’t be recognized because of a publication ban.
Police started investigating the case after allegations surfaced suggesting Hoggard had inappropriate encounters with younger followers.
The singer put out an announcement lengthy earlier than his arrest during which he denied any non-consensual sexual conduct. However he acknowledged having behaved in a method that “objectified girls” and was “reckless and dismissive of their emotions.”
Hedley was dropped by its administration crew and blacklisted by a number of radio stations after the allegations emerged, and has been on indefinite hiatus since 2018.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
