Tearful complainant alleges Jacob Hoggard raped, choked her after Hedley concert

Haileybury, Ont. -

-- WARNING - The following details of the sexual assault case may be disturbing, discretion is advised.

A woman accusing Jacob Hoggard of sexual assault in northern Ontario told his trial the musician raped, hit and choked her before urinating on her in a hotel room after she attended his band's concert and an after-party eight years ago.

(Left to right) Justice Robin Tremblay, Assistant Crown Attorney Peter Keen, Crown Attorney Lilly Gates, Hoggard's lawyers Kally Ho, Megan Savard and accused former Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard are shown in a courtroom sketch in Haileybury, Ont.. Sept. 23, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alexandra Newbould)

During tearful testimony Wednesday, the woman told a jury she was terrified by Hoggard during the June 2016 encounter, repeatedly tried to get away from him and told him to stop.

"He called me names," she recalled. "He called me a 'dirty little piggy.' He called me a 'dirty pig' repeatedly. He imitated pig sounds."

During the alleged choking that followed, the woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, said, "I remember seeing his bright eyes that still haunt me to this day."

Hoggard, the lead singer of the band Hedley, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault in the trial that's taking place in the northern community of Haileybury.

The Crown and defence agree on some of the circumstances of the case, including that Hoggard was in Kirkland Lake, Ont., for a Hedley concert.

Attended a bonfire

An agreed statement of facts has established that the band attended a bonfire with fans outside the hotel where they were staying after the concert, and that Hoggard and the complainant, who was 19 years old at the time, had a sexual encounter in his hotel room.

Prosecutors are seeking to prove that what happened during that encounter wasn't consensual.

In earlier testimony on Tuesday, the woman described attending the bonfire with other teen girls and Hedley band members. She said Hoggard told her to stay, that they would play music and have a conversation.

On Wednesday, the woman repeatedly broke down in tears while on the stand as Crown attorney Peter Keen brought her through the events that followed.

The complainant said Hoggard told her to follow him into his hotel room, and she saw other band members waiting by their hotel room doors in the hallway. When they got into the room, Hoggard immediately took out an acoustic guitar, she said. "I was really happy that we were gonna be playing music."

But then he put it down, she said, and told her that she was being "too 'talky talky."'

She testified that as he then removed her tank top, bra and skirt, she told him to stop. She said she felt "violated" and moved to cover her breasts. He used the guitar to push her onto the bed and took a photo of her, she said, and repeatedly asked for her age, which she didn't recall if she provided.

The woman alleged that Hoggard next tried to kiss her, to which she said, "I'm really not interested."

'I did not consent to that'

She said she then tried to leave, but he blocked her, turned her around, bent her over the bed and attempted to have anal sex with her. She said she tried to scoot farther away from him but Hoggard pursued her.

"He raped me vaginally and I felt stuck," she said. "I did not consent to that."

The complainant said she tried to use her elbows to push him off her, but he had her pinned down and was "too strong." He flipped her over and put his hand under her jaw, she said, maintaining pressure for what she said was about four minutes.

"I was crying," she said. "I was terrified."

After Hoggard climbed off her, she said she went to the bathroom and vomited in the toilet. She said she then got into the shower to wash herself, feeling "very sore, very sick."

Hoggard entered the washroom and asked if he could pee on her, she said.

"I was so disgusted. I told him no," she recounted. "He comes into the shower and pees on me anyway."

Waited for a time to escape

Afterwards, the complainant said she was worried about what Hoggard was "capable of" and "didn't want to trigger him." When she saw that he was watching a TV show on his tablet, she lay back down on the bed to "wait for a time to escape."

 After a period of time, she said Hoggard told her that "I don't have to worry about STDs or AIDS because he picks them young."

He also told her that his girlfriend wouldn't find out about it, she said.

The complainant said she returned to the bathroom to throw up again. She said she heard what sounded like Hoggard packing his things. He came to her, she said, and told her he was going to leave, instructing her to stay for half an hour or longer and to leave through the room's patio door.

"His personality came back," she said, later describing him as talking "as if nothing happened."

She said she was "very afraid" to stay for long, wondering if he was "buying time to come back and do something horrible," and only waited for a minute or so before leaving the hotel.

She made a two-kilometre journey home on foot, she said, and once home she surveyed her body and saw red marks on her thighs, a red handprint on her bottom and bruising on her neck, which she covered with makeup.

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During what the complainant described as the "long walk" home, she said she thought to herself: "I don't know how powerful this man is, I don't know if the justice system is going to help me."

Cross-examination began on Wednesday afternoon with Hoggard's lawyer, Megan Savard, testing the complainant's recollection of the timeline of the night, the venue of the concert, the van that transported fans to the after-party and the layout of the hotel.

It is expected to resume on Thursday morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.

Resources for sexual assault survivors in Canada

If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:

A full list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling can be found at ReeseCommunity.com. Resources in your community can be found by entering your postal code. 

• If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety, you should call 911.
• Helplines, legal services and locations that offer sexual assault kits in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia can be found .
• National Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
• 24-hour crisis line: 1-416-597-8808 
• Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: [phone] 
• Trans Lifeline: 1-877-330-6366
• Sexual misconduct support for current or former members of the Armed Forces: 1-844-750-1648

Read about your rights as a victim here.