Celebrity Canadian rock musician Jacob Hoggard was declared guilty of sexual assault of an Ottawa woman he allegedly met on Tinder and causing bodily harm, while a Toronto jury acquitted him of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old admirer.
The former frontman of the Hedley band was also found not guilty of sexual interference, a charge alleging sexual touching of a minor, in an event when she was 15 involving the same teen fan.
After the jury’s judgment was pronounced, the musician hugged his wife in the courtroom. With his wife, Canadian actress Rebekah Asselstine, he has a young boy.
Both complainants stated that they had been left bleeding and injured. They each said that the reality show star had smacked them, spat in their mouths, called them disparaging names, and restricted their breathing at one point.
After allegations against Hoggard surfaced, the band disbanded. Hoggard had been working as a carpenter until lately.
Prosecutors claimed Hoggard molested the adolescent after a Hedley concert in Toronto in April 2016, and then assaulted her in a hotel room in the Toronto region later that year after she turned 16. In November 2016, he allegedly raped an Ottawa woman in a Toronto hotel.
In Canada, the legal age for sexual consent is 16. The musician pled not guilty to all accusations leveled against him.
During the nearly month-long trial, Hoggard claimed that his recall of the meetings was hazy, but that he had consensual, ‘passionate’ sex with the complainants and that he didn’t physically touch the minor until she was 16.
— Jacob Hoggard (@JacobHoggard) March 3, 2018
According to the Toronto Star, the adolescent victim, who is now in her 20s, claimed throughout the trial that she was a tremendous admirer of the band and that she was ‘in love’ with Hoggard.
He denied choking or restricting the complainants’ breathing, but he admitted that some of the other acts they described were among his sexual likes and thus may have occurred.
The trial concluded on Tuesday, followed by 40 hours of jury discussion, which resulted in the verdict on Sunday. Justice Gillian Roberts has not set a sentencing date, but indicated its likelihood over the summer.
Hoggard will face a separate sexual assault case in August against a woman who claims he raped her in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, in June 2016. His band was performing at a music festival at the time of the alleged assault.
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