WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
Jacob Hogard, the former frontman of the rock band Hadley, faces a new charge of rape in connection with a meeting in June 2016 in Kirkland Lake, Ont.
In March, Hogard was charged with sexually assaulting a woman who was 19 at the time.
Court documents indicate that the alleged attack took place on or about June 25, 2016, when the group led the celebrations for the week of the return home in the northern city of Ontario, located about 300 kilometers northeast of Sudbury.
In an exclusive interview with CBC News, the complainant claimed that Hogard had established herself on her six years ago at the Comfort Inn in Kirkland Lake, where the group was staying.
“He knew what he was doing was wrong, and yet he did it,” said the woman, who is now 25 and lives in British Columbia. Her identity is protected by a ban on publication issued by the court.
The applicant now lives in British Columbia and whose identity is protected by a court ban on publication, she claims that Hogard raped her in June 2016 after a Hadley concert during the week of her return home. She was 19 then. Hogard denies the charge. (Judy Trin / CBC News)
After filing a formal complaint with police this February, the woman said she was “relieved” that she had taken a step to hold Hogard accountable.
In an email, Hogard’s lawyer, Megan Saward, said her client denied the alleged 2016 attack.
“Mr. Hogard is innocent,” wrote Savard, who rejected CBC’s request for an interview. “He will plead not guilty. He has no further comment as this case is in court.”
Hoghard’s next appearance in Lake Kirkland is scheduled for August 4.
A verdict is expected in a separate case of sexual violence
In June 2016, the BC woman, a Hadley fan, hoped for a moment to discuss music and play guitar with Hogard. Instead, she claims he raped and humiliated her.
“I did not give my consent for sexual intercourse. I kept telling him, “No, don’t. Stop again and again, the woman said, remembering the alleged assault.
– I felt powerless.
The new charge comes as Hoghard, 37, is awaiting sentencing at a trial in Toronto, where he faces two other charges of sexual assault causing bodily harm.
One is related to a woman from Ottawa and the other to a girl from the Toronto area who was 16 at the time. These alleged assaults took place in the fall of 2016. He also faces charges of sexual intercourse with the teenager. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Hogard defended himself in the May 2 trial in Toronto.
Since he was first accused of sexual assault four years ago, Hogard’s musical career has collapsed and Hadley is no longer together. He said he now works as a carpenter and is married with a young son.
Hogard told the court that he had acted ruthlessly in the past during numerous overnight relationships, but said he was not guilty of a crime. A verdict is expected soon in the Toronto trial.
Hogard, 37, is seen with his wife, Rebecca Asselstin, on the right, and lawyer Megan Savard, at the center, arriving in Toronto court on May 6 for the trial against him for sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one of sexual intercourse. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
Police did not name Hogard
According to the Ontario Provincial Police, on March 2, 2022, Hoghard, accompanied by his lawyer, surrendered to the South Porcupine OPP in Timins, Ontario, about 140 kilometers west of Lake Kirkland.
He was arrested, charged and released with a promise to appear.
Although he was named in court documents, Hogard was not identified by the OPP in a press release in March, when they said they had accused a 37-year-old Vancouver man of sexual violence in 2016.
The applicant provided the CBC with emails asking the police to reveal Hogard’s name. Instead, she said an investigator told her they did not name the singer to protect her identity. The woman was not named in court documents.
Provincial police say the decision not to name Hogard was made after consulting with senior officials.
“The fact that the two participants do not live in the same community was a factor we looked at, but ultimately the safety and security of the victim is our bottom line,” said Bill Dixon, acting OPP manager. media relations, email.
“The profile or employment of the accused is not the deciding factor.”
Hogard’s lawyer declined to answer CBC questions about the arrest.
“We are not suing the media and this case is no exception. What we have to say will be said in court,” Savard said.
“I should have reported it a long time ago”
The woman, who now lives in British Columbia, said she had previously considered reporting to police in 2018, when allegations of misconduct against young fans first surfaced on social media during the album’s tour. of the Cageless group.
In February 2018, before any other allegations of sexual violence were published, she also spoke to a CBC reporter, but eventually decided not to share her story.
“I had to report on him a long time ago, but I was worried that no one would believe me because he was a celebrity,” said the woman, who now feels more confident she will move forward.
After the alleged attack, she graduated from college and found solace in a new relationship.
“Now I have a supportive partner and it’s very helpful. It makes me feel stronger,” the woman said. But, she said, there are still nightmares about what happened.
The CBC could not independently confirm the woman’s account of the events, but confirmed that members of the Hedley group were staying at the Comfort Inn when they visited Kirkland Lake in 2016.
CBC reporters also saw selfies of the then 19-year-old woman and Hogard, taken at a party after the concert that night.
Selfies of Hoghard and the applicant were taken around a campfire at a party in the woods behind the group’s hotel in Lake Kirkland in the early morning hours of 25 June 2016. The applicant’s face was blurred to protect her identity. (Sent by the complainant)
From a concert to an alleged attack
On June 24, 2016, the woman attended Hadley’s concert at the community center in Kirkland Lake with a family member. After the concert, they jumped into a van that took fans to the Comfort Inn to party with the band. The woman’s relative left before her.
As she hung out at a campfire in the woods behind the hotel, the woman said she drank several Coors Lite beers with the band. She got drunk and said that Hoghard then took her to his hotel room.
Once inside, the applicant saw several guitars and hoped that she and Hogard could “muffle” together. She said he accused her of being “talkative, talkative”, took her phone and then attacked her.
She acted as if she owned me, as if she could do whatever she wanted.
Despite her attempts to reject his intervention, she said, he took off her clothes and took a nude photo of her without her consent. He then undressed, revealing snake tattoos and something that looked like a panther on his body.
“He acted as if he owned me, as if he could do whatever he wanted,” she said.
The woman said Hogard wanted to know how old she was. She said she told him she was 19 and pushed the singer away from her while he tried to kiss her. She said she fought his attempt to penetrate her anal, but was vaginally raped.
“I struggled with him all the time. I felt trapped while he was on top. He was very strong,” the woman said.
She told the CBC she was shouting to stop.
Charges of suffocation and slapping
During the alleged attack, the woman said, Hoghard alternated between calling her a “dirty little pig” and a “good girl.”
The woman claims that he strangled her during sex and slapped her, leaving a red handprint on her thigh, “which lasted a week”.
After the alleged attack, the applicant said that she felt so sick that she went to the bathroom to vomit.
When he went in the shower to wash, the woman said, Hoghard went into the bathroom and asked if he could urinate on her. She said she refused, but he still urinated on her stomach.
“It disgusted and saddened me,” the woman said.
“I was just an average girl who was going to meet a celebrity and talk for a few minutes, and then it happened.”
View of the hotel’s sliding doors, which open onto the Comfort Inn car park in Lake Kirkland. The woman claims that she was sexually raped by Hogard at the hotel on June 25, 2016 (Jimmy Chabot / CBC)
In order to cope, the applicant destroyed her diary
The applicant said that Hogard did not use a condom during the sexual assault.
When the time came to pay, the woman hoped Hogard would pay a fee. Instead, she said, he told her to stay in the room for 30 minutes after he came out and out the back door of the courtyard.
She said some members of the group and crew may have seen her leave the hotel. CBC’s previous attempts to track these people to verify her account have failed.
In an attempt to cope with the trauma, the woman said she had burned the diary in which she wrote about her feelings in the days after the concert.
A few days after the alleged attack, the woman said, she went to the Sante Center in Lake Kirkland to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases, which she said was negative. The CBC was unable to verify a record of her visit to the center.
In addition to police, the woman said she had only discussed the incident with her current partner, a mental health adviser and the CBC.
The woman’s partner confirmed to the CBC that she told him last summer about what allegedly happened and that he encouraged her to go to the police.
She said that she deleted videos she shot from the concert and the afterparty, but the memories …
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