London Police Chief Thai Truong on Monday apologized to “E.M.” the woman at the centre of the sexual assault case involving five former members of Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team.
The apology came during a media conference where London Police give an update on their investigation.
The investigation into the woman’s allegations was closed in 2019 without any charges being laid.
It was only reopened after the woman filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Hockey Canada and several players three years later.
Police found new evidence in 2022, explained Truong.
The investigator in charge of the sexual assault case says a review committee has not yet looked into why the case was dropped five years ago.
Detective Sergeant Katherine Dann says the case was not referred to the Violence Against Women Advocate Case Review Committee after officers in 2019 deemed there was not enough evidence to lay charges.
London Police charged Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart and Michael McLeod late last month.
Lawyers for all five players appeared via video in a London court for the first hearing in the case Monday morning.
The case has been put over to the end of April.
