Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard admitted in his testimony that he lied to a teenage fan that he loved her and saw a future with her, lied to another woman that he cared about her, and lied to his past girlfriends by concealing his serial cheating.
On Wednesday morning, Crown prosecutor Kelly Slate suggested Hoggard, 37, was now lying to the jury that the two complainants accusing him of violent rape in the fall of 2016 consented to sex with him.
“Are you lying now and saying they consented to get out of another difficult situation?” Slate asked in cross-examination.
“I’m only telling the truth right now,” Hoggard said, later adding he was not proud of lying in the past to escape uncomfortable interactions.
Slate suggested Hoggard, the lead singer of a popular Canadian pop-rock band that regularly toured the country for more than a decade, was used to getting what he wanted.
“People didn’t say no to you,” Slate said. “You’re not used to people saying no to you.”
Hoggard said this wasn’t true.
Slate suggested that the two complainants both said no to Hoggard in his hotel room, when he wanted to have sex with them.
“You didn’t care, you still got what you wanted,” Slate said.
Hoggard denied this. He testified that he had consensual and “passionate” sex with the 16-year-old fan in September 2016 — he said he made sure he knew her age de ella and that 16 was the age of consent in Canada — and with an Ottawa woman the next month. He denied that he groped the teen fan after a concert when she was 15, as she alleged.
Both women’s identities are under a publication ban available to sexual assault complainants.
Hoggard has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one count of sexual touching of a person younger than 16.
Hoggard testified Wednesday that he knew the sexual encounters were consensual though he did not have a clear or complete memory because his memory of the overall experience was that it was positive.
“It’s my practice to be in communication with my partners, to ask how they are feeling, to read their body language and their verbal cues and to talk about things we are doing. I don’t have a specific memory of what I said — ‘is it OK if we do this,’ for example — but I know that’s how I treat people,” he said.
He said that he consulted a lawyer after the Ottawa woman texted him that she was unhappy and that he should know to stop when someone says no.
He said he contacted a friend who is a defamation lawyer because he felt like he had a “target on my back” and wanted to protect himself.
The jury also heard from limo driver Steven Wigoda who picked up the teenage complainant from her friend’s home in the GTA and drove her to the Sheraton Gateway hotel near Pearson airport.
Wigoda was initially set to be a Crown witness but was called as the second and last defense witness, the jury heard.
Wigoda said he confirmed the destination with the complainant before they left. The defense has argued the complainant knew she was meeting Hoggard to have sex in his hotel room, not to go downtown for lunch as she said.
In cross-examination, Wigoda agreed the complainant may not have known the “Sheraton Gateway” was even a hotel if it was not specifically said.
The complainant testified she was unfamiliar with Toronto and did not know where the hotel was in relation to downtown Toronto.
Wigoda said he had no record of making a stop at an En Route at the complainant’s request while on the way to the hotel, as the complainant testified happened.
He also testified that he could not recall anything about the complainant’s appearance when he was called to pick her up. The complainant testified that she was visibly distracted with messy hair and makeup, and that she thought he could tell something was wrong.
Wigoda said he took her back three hours earlier than scheduled and said she was quieter on the way back. In cross-examination, prosecutor Jill Witkin said Wigoda told police in 2018 she looked like she was wearing blush when she returned to the car and that her hair was no longer in a pony tail.
Wigoda agreed he said that and it could have meant her face was red.
The trial continues with closing arguments Friday.
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