Vegas Golden Knights

Prosecution Calls Howden in Team Canada Sexual Assault Trial

Published

1 month ago

May 20, 2025

Vegas Golden Knights' Brett Howden plays during an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

On Tuesday, Brett Howden, a current member of the Vegas Golden Knights and a former member of the gold medal-winning 2018 World Junior Team, took the stand to testify at Hockey Canada sexual assault trial. Howden, called by the Crown as a witness, testified virtually from Las Vegas.

Five of his former teammates– Dillon Dubé, Carter Hart, Callan Foote, Alex Formenton, and Michael McLeod– have been accused of sexually assaulting a woman known to the public as E.M. McLeod faces a second charge of being a party to the act. All five players have pleaded not guilty.

E.M. has testified that she met Michael McLeod at a bar on the night of June 18th, 2018. The two went back to his hotel room and had consensual sex. Afterward, a number of other men appeared without her consent. For several hours, E.M. alleged, they coaxed her into sexual acts. They laughed at her, slapped her, spit on her, and stopped her when she tried to leave.

After E.M.’s testimony, the Crown called several members of the World Junior Team to the stand as witnesses.

On Tuesday, Howden testified that on the night in question, he was in McLeod’s hotel room along with several other teammates– Dubé, Hart, Foote, Formenton, McLeod, Sam Steele, Drake Batherson, Jake Bean, Maxime Comtois, and Alex Steenbergen.

“I just remember casually hanging out with everybody,” said Howden. “What brought my attention to her was she was starting to flirt with guys, starting to say a bunch of stuff. Coming on to whoever was around her, essentially… I just remember her trying to be flirty with whoever she could be flirty with.”

Howden attested that when no one took E.M. up on her offer, she insulted them. He testified that he saw Hart and McLeod receive oral sex from E.M., and afterward, Formenton had sex with E.M. in the bathroom. Howden said that he heard Dubé slap E.M. on the buttocks but didn’t see it.

Upon request, Howden provided context to messages sent in a group chat on June 26th, 2018.

“During all of this I think there was some anger that was coming across because, in that situation, I felt she was the one initiating everything,” said Howden on Tuesday. “She was the one who put us in that situation. I don’t even know if I’m using the right term. It’s just emotional anger that she’s trying to say those things were the other way on us.”

Howden testified on Tuesday that before he spoke with an investigative lawyer on July 3rd, 2018, Dube and Foote called him. They requested he leave their names and actions out of his report, and he obliged.

Howden has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

While on the virtual stand, Howden repeatedly told Crown prosecutor Meaghan Cunningham that he could not remember details of the night in question. Even after reviewing transcripts of past statements, Howden maintained that he could not recall many details.

On Wednesday, Cunningham will request permission to cross-examine Howden. Cunningham attested that she found at least 15 inconsistencies between his Tuesday testimony and past statements.