(Toronto) The sexual assault trial of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, frontman of the Hedley group, has been postponed again due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Jacob Hoggard was originally scheduled to stand trial in January 2021 in Ontario, but the date was pushed back to April of that year and then to this month, before jury trials were suspended due to the pandemic.
The Ontario Superior Court announced in mid-December that new jurors will not be trained until February 7, due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. However, she said the decision to continue or stay the jury trials already in place will be left to the judge.
At his preliminary hearing, Mr. Hoggard pleaded not guilty to the charges of sexual assault causing bodily harm and sexual interference.
The singer was arrested and charged in 2018 in connection with alleged incidents involving a woman and a minor. At the time, police concluded that the charges stemmed from three separate events that allegedly took place in the Toronto area in 2016.
None of the complainants can be identified due to a publication ban.
An investigation was launched after allegations of inappropriate dating with young fans targeted Mr Hoggard.
A few months before his arrest, the musician released a statement in which he admitted to behaving in a way that “objectified women”, but denied any non-consensual sexual behavior.