Canadian Police apologise to victim of alleged sexual assault in ice hockey case

The Canadian police apologized for the delay in the charging of five hockey players accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2018.

The police in London, Ontario charged four NHL players and one former player last week.

Police said on Monday that they found new evidence in a review of the case that was not available during the initial investigation.

All five say they did not do anything wrong and will plead not guilty.

The five people were on Canada’s World Junior hockey team when the alleged attack happened.

During a meeting with reporters on Monday, Police Chief Thai Truong said: “I am very sorry to the victim and their family for the long time it took to get to this point. ”

He said, “I am really upset about this. ”

The police stopped looking into the alleged assault in 2019 and didn’t charge anyone, but they started investigating again three years later when people in Canada started paying attention to the case.

Sgt Katherine Dann, who is in charge of looking at the case, said her team discovered that there were more things that could have been done to make the investigation better.

On Monday, the players’ lawyers went to a court in London to represent their clients for the first time. No players showed up.

The lawyers asked the court to not allow anyone to say the name of the person who was hurt and two people who saw what happened.

Five players are accused of sexual assault. Player Mike McLeod is also being accused of being involved in the crime.

Four players in the NHL are Mr. McLeod and Cal Foote who play for the New Jersey Devils, Carter Hart who plays for the Philadelphia Flyers, and Dillon Dubé who plays for the Calgary Flames.

The fifth person is Alex Formenton, who used to play in the NHL. Before he was arrested, Mr. Formenton was a player for the Swiss hockey team Ambri-Piotta.

They have been away from their teams waiting for the case to be decided.

Sgt Dann said that they have charged all the people they have good reasons to believe did something wrong.

In 2022, a woman sued Hockey Canada for saying that eight players assaulted her in a hotel room in July 2018. Hockey Canada manages hockey programs and teams in Canada, including the Olympics.

In May, TSN reported that Hockey Canada had settled with the woman without making a lot of noise about it.

The news caused a lot of people in Canada to be very upset. Because of this, the organisation lost money from the government and some big sponsorships.

When he was asked why it took almost six years for the police to file charges and if the police didn’t do a good job at first, Mr. Troung said he couldn’t give more details because it could hurt the investigation.

He said they will talk about why it took a long time.

The NHL did a big study, but they won’t share what they found because it’s being decided in court.

Mr Bettman talked to reporters on Friday at the NHL All-Star weekend in Toronto. He said that NHL players will be free agents at the end of the season and won’t be with their teams during the trial.

Mr Bettman said it’s best to wait for the end of the court case at this time.

He also said the accusations were terrible and defended the sport despite the charges.

“Mr Bettman said that this does not show what really happens in our game. ” “We want everyone to know that our game is for everyone, friendly and secure. ”

The players have to go to court again on April 30. In Canada, if someone is found guilty of sexual assault, they can be put in prison for up to 10 years.