A lawsuit in Canada is expected.

Warning: This story contains graphic details

Five Canadian hockey players accused of sexual attacks on a woman on Thursday study their fate in the case that covered the country.

The accused men, all former hockey team players in Canada, did not find themselves guilty of attacking a woman in a hotel room in 2018 in the London city, where they visited a hockey solemn gathering.

At the heart of the trial was whether the woman was who was 20 years old, agreed every sexual act that This hotel room has unfolded for several hours.

The matter also raised questions about whether there is a toxic culture in Canada’s favorite sport.

Justice Maria Karach, who will preside over her ruling on Thursday morning in the court hall of the court.

Before the trial. The case was forced to be considered a hockey Canada – he is largely regarded as the voice of Canada for hockey on the international stage – after it turned out that the sports body had reached a calm settlement with the alleged victim in 2022 and postponed the fund to resolve such accusations.

Hockey Canada lost major sponsors, faced a parliamentary probe and after the federal funding was frozen. He later announced a plan to resolve “systemic issues” in hockey culture.

The complaint, a woman known publicly, from the standard prohibition of publication, claims that a group of hockey players was engaged in sexual activity with her without her consent.

The accused are Michael Macleod, Dilon Dub, Cal Foot, Alex Formeton and Carter Hart. All were players with the National Hockey League (NHL) when the charges came up, though one played in Europe.

For nine days, sometimes graphic indications during the lawsuit, the EM told how at night it stands with macleod, turned into group sexual abuse.

Em said that after meeting him at the local bar, she went to the MCLEOD hotel room, and they had consensus sexual intercourse. But she claims that he invited other teammates into the room, leaving her shocked and humiliated when they were engaged in sexual activity with her that she said she did not agree.

During the trial, the judge heard that players committed various sexual actions on it, including oral sex, communication and clapping a woman’s buttocks.

Lawyers for players talk about another story, claiming that they agreed to these actions.

They claim that she created the impression that she wants to spend “Wild Night” and that she discussed with McLed, inviting her friends “to” have fun. “

Players claim that the woman asked them to have sex with her, and that she agreed to what happened that night in London.

From the time it began on April 23, there has been a lot of legal turns, including the declaration of trial and the dismissal of the jury in the middle of the journey, after the members accused some lawyers of bullying them.

The case will now be decided by the judge.

Having joined the arguments, Crown’s prosecutor Hiser Dankers warned the jury that the case would be unconventional and could challenge the prejudices about the consent and the attack.

It is not about whether the “woman” chose herself from an unwanted situation “, but rather, when she” voluntarily agreed to engage in every sexual act that happened, “she claimed.

The data included texts from the McLed phone, which showed that he invited other players to his room for “3 ways” and asks them to investigate the police “leave”.

The court also considered a group chat since June 2018 between the players in which they seemed to discuss control over damage after they had been informed that an internal investigation into hockey would be conducted.

The text chat from McLed’s phone chat states: “We all have to say the same if we are interviewed (Canada’s hockey), they cannot have different stories and what to do.”

“Not the boys like you don’t need to come up with anything. Nobody did anything wrong. We went to this room to eat. The girl came. She wanted to have sex with all of us,” another teammish said.

The court also shows two videos with a woman wrapped in a towel after the incident, where she can be heard, saying, “All this was unity.”

In a few days of testimony, their She said she was “uncomfortable” and continued the “autopilot” regime, because the men demanded sexual actions, and that they discussed the ball for golf and golf club at the vagina at one point.

The woman told the court that she had received a “porn star” as a mechanism of fighting. The lawyer of one of the players who opposed, claiming that her actions made men think she agreed.

The defense lawyers also used the text messages that they sent them the next day, noting that she discussed the incident but did not say that she had been sexual attacks.

“I am going to suggest you what if you had – in any way, form or form – felt that you were breaking sex or attack that night, you would have told your best friend,” said Lisa Cornellus defense lawyer.

Only one of the accused players, Carter Hart, testified in his defense.

Asked why the woman was asked to shoot, consenting, he replied that for professional athletes this is a common practice.

The case was resumed in the London police after their initial investigation in 2018 and the beginning of 2019 ended without charges. Later, official charges were charged in the early 2024.

Five players had to put a career in hockey during the case. All had contracts in the NHL when they were asked to surrender to the police in January 2024, forcing them to take the absence in the appropriate teams.

Their contracts in the NHL have since ended.

Just two days after the trial began on April 23, justice was proclaimed by the Justice of Karachi after the interaction of the jury and one of the lawyers.

Then a new lawsuit was ordered with a completely new, 14-member jury.

Then On May 16, the jury was fired when one member complained about Karachi’s Justice that the same lawyer laughed at them and mocked their appearance.

While the judge said it did not witness bad behavior, the prosecution violated the justice of the trial.

Instead of restarting the trial again, the lawyers agreed that the case would only be resolved by the judges.

The case created headlines across the country.

Carolyn Conron, a criminal lawyer from London Ontario, said the BBC that it was killed in the first days in the first days – especially during the EM.

The high profile of the accused and the revered place, which occupies hockey in the national consciousness, has caught attention.

“This is a very extraordinary case from a legal and social point of view,” said Daphne Gilbert, Professor of Law University Ottawa, citing “winding” and “unusual” road leading to trial, and the influence of the allegations had hockey Canada.

Prof. Gilbert said there was an interest in how the case can remake how consent in Canada is interpreted.

In accordance with the Canadian legislation, it was found that consent is not the lack of “no” but rather the statement “yes” with words or behavior. Consent also cannot be obtained before or after a sexual act.

But the case raises important questions about how you can interpret your consent in a situation where the victim says he feels that they have no choice, Professor Gilbert said.

There was a criticism of some, especially from support groups for sexual victims.

Coalition of Ontario Coalition Crisis centers of rape, which is a network of more than 30 sexual attacks in Ontario, said the lawyer’s lawyers perpetuate harmful “myths” about sexual attack.

“Over the past few weeks and five crosses, the EM court has encountered virtually every harmful and accused that there is a myth about a sexual attack,” the statement said.

The big question would be when it was “ultimately for them to survive this experience”, regardless of the results, said Professor Gilbert.

“There will be conversations about how we treat a sexual attack and what we ask them in these cases,” she said, with some likely: “Is it worth it?”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman did not say whether they allowed the players to return to the league when justified.

“We kept saying that we are not making any comments as long as the trial is taking place. We respect it,” Mr. Bettman said earlier this year.

“I want to be clear. The fact that it is supposedly disgusting and disgusting and it cannot be allowed,” he added.