(Toronto) The sexual assault trial of Canadian rocker Jacob Hoggard began Monday in Toronto, after multiple postponements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted yesterday at 1:42 p.m.
Hoggard, dressed in a dark suit, was present in a downtown Toronto courtroom on Monday as a judge heard some procedural questions in the case. Jury selection is expected to begin on Wednesday.
Outside the courtroom on Monday, someone held up a sign in support of Hoggard and his band, Hedley. Some fans had already attended hearings at the start of the case in 2018, although Hoggard himself was not present.
In a two-day preliminary hearing in the summer of 2019, the Hedley frontman pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault causing bodily harm and sexual interference with a person under 16.
He chose a jury trial, which was originally scheduled to begin in January 2021. But health measures prompted courts to suspend new jury trials for months, and the start of Hoggard’s trial has been repeatedly postponed. It is now expected to last until early June.
Hoggard had been arrested and charged in 2018 for alleged crimes involving a woman and a minor that police say took place in the Toronto area in 2016. The alleged victims cannot be identified under a court order non-publication, as did several witnesses.
Police had opened an investigation after allegations emerged suggesting Hoggard had inappropriate relationships with young female fans.
Long before his arrest, the singer released a statement denying any non-consensual sex. But he admitted to behaving in a way that “objectified women”, that he was “reckless” and “did not take their feelings into account”.
After the allegations were published, his band Hedley was dumped by his team and blacklisted by several radio stations. The band has been on hiatus since 2018, indefinitely.