'I don't want this to happen': complainant testifies at Gee-Gees sexual assault trial

WARNING: This story includes graphic details from testimony heard in court that some readers may find disturbing.

The complainant in the trial of two former University of Ottawa hockey players charged with sexual assault told a Thunder Bay court Thursday she felt helpless when two men she didn't know forced her to have sex with them without her consent.

Guillaume Donovan and David Foucher are charged in connection with an incident at a hotel in Thunder Bay, Ont., in 2014. The two men were at the time members of the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees men's hockey team, who were in the northern Ontario city in 2014 to play a game against the Lakehead University Thunderwolves. 

The complainant's identity is protected by a publication ban, which also prevents CBC from reporting details which may identify her. Those include the identities of some of the other witnesses.

Naked men appeared in hotel room

The woman said she was having consensual sex with a member of the Gee-Gees team when the assault occurred.

She had first made contact with the player over the Tinder dating app and, after meeting in person at a bar, they went back to his hotel room where they began to have sex.

She told court she had closed her eyes at some point and when she opened them again, she noticed other men in the hotel room.

One man was naked and standing in a corner, she said. Another man, who was at the foot of the bed, got on top of her and penetrated her without saying a word. 

She said she "vividly" recalled turning to the Gee-Gee she had met on Tinder and saying, "I don't want this to happen."

She said at no point did she consent to intercourse with the man who'd appeared at the foot of the bed. 

Another man then came toward her and attempted to force her to perform oral sex without her consent, she told the court.

She said the man who'd appeared at the foot of the bed said she should "just do it" because the man attempting to get her to perform oral sex was the roommate of the player with whom she had arrived at the hotel.  

In earlier testimony, the man who first brought the woman to the hotel identified his roommate as Guillaume Donovan, one of the accused.

'There was too many of them for me to do anything'

Crown lawyer Marc Huneault asked the complainant to describe her emotional state at the time.

"I felt helpless because I thought I was with him," she told the court, with some emotion. "I didn't feel like I could say anything because there was too many of them for me to do anything — to be able to say no or react in any way."

The woman said the incident ended when the lights came on.

She quickly grabbed her belongings, including her cellphone, and left the room without even looking at the men.

She told court she turned the corner in the hallway and phoned her friend, crying, repeating a request that she pick her up.

The friend took her to the hospital despite her protests and wanted her to see a nurse. Despite a long wait in a hospital room, where the complainant said she fell asleep because she was drunk, she did not end up seeing a nurse that night.

The woman said it was her friend who had brought the complaint to police. She said she was reluctant to come forward and felt "angry and betrayed" that her friend had said anything at the time.

Those feelings led her to give untruthful evidence to police when she was invited for an interview, she said.

Complainant met Gee-Gees player in local bar

Earlier in the day during her testimony, the woman told court about the events that brought her to the hotel that night. 

She said the Saturday evening began with drinks with friends and heading to a local bar.

She said she had arranged through the dating app to meet with a Gee-Gees player after his game was over.

The woman had a drink at the bar, recognized the player from his photos in the app, and waved, she told court. She said she spent most of her time at the bar with the player, after initially having a drink and dancing with some friends. 

The Crown asked her about the effects of the alcohol she'd consumed.

She said she was "coherent" but "not all there," and that she was able to walk and talk. She said she'd also been cut off from getting more drinks from the bar.

Gee-Gees captain 'belligerent' and 'foolish'

The complainant said she and the player left the bar for his hotel by cab around last call at 2 a.m.

She said before they left they encountered another Gee-Gees player on the sidewalk, and that he was introduced to her as the team's captain.

She described the captain as big, with red hair and a French accent, adding she made a comment to him about his accent at the time.

He was wandering on the sidewalk acting "belligerent" and "foolish" and likely had been drinking, she told court.

In her testimony later in the day, she said she connected the captain's voice with that of one of the men in the room during the assault.

Court had earlier heard from a teammate that David Foucher, one of the accused, was the captain of the team.

The complainant's testimony continues Friday morning.

CBC reporter Matthew Kupfer is covering the trial in Thunder Bay. Review his coverage from Thursday's testimony with his live tweets here.