Howden breaks down during testimony at hockey sexual assault trial

Content warning: This story includes allegations of sexual assault.

LONDON, Ont. — Brett Howden broke down and cried Thursday while being questioned by defence counsel about his memory of what happened on June 19, 2018, at the trial of five former NHLers accused of sexual assault.

While being questioned by Lisa Carnelos, who represents Dillon Dube, about explaining the night at the Delta Armouries to his dad, Howden, 27, started blinking and moving his eyes rapidly from side to side. Testifying via Zoom from Las Vegas, Howden, voice shaking, said that it was “one of the hardest things to go through, explaining this to my family.”

When Carnelos asked Howden, now a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, about telling his girlfriend, who’s now his wife and the mother of their two young children, Howden broke down and cried.

Earlier, assistant Crown attorney Meaghan Cunningham questioned Howden about text messages he sent on June 26, 2018, to former Canadian junior teammate Taylor Raddysh, who was his roommate at the Delta Armouries for the Hockey Canada gala event. The admissibility of the text messages is being challenged by the defence.

Howden read the text messages, one of which read, “Dude, I’m so happy I left when all the (expletive) went down.” Referring specifically to when he left Room 209, Howden texted Raddysh, “Duber (Dube) was smacking the girl’s (butt) so hard, it looked like it hurt so bad.”

When asked to vouch for the accuracy of the texts, Howden said, “I had no reason to lie. I believe I was being truthful.”

Carnelos suggested to Howden and the court that the text exchange was an informal conversation between two friends, and it wasn’t meant to be an official statement of events along the lines of what would come out of a police interview.

“Obviously, I wasn’t thinking this would be used,” Howden said. “I have no reason to lie. No reason to hide anything. Seeing what I said, it’s hard to remember.”

Howden added he remembered being more worried at the time about Hockey Canada’s code of conduct than his professional career. He testified he was in New York for Rangers development camp when the text exchange occurred.

Riaz Sayani, co-counsel for Carter Hart, contended the text messages shouldn’t be allowed into evidence because Howden wasn’t able to say definitively that they weren’t inaccurate. Howden answered earlier that his memory of some of the 10 pages of texts could be inaccurate, but couldn’t say which ones.

Cunningham later countered Sayani’s assertion that “accuracy and honesty are different things” by saying “they are both components of truth.”

Justice Maria Carroccia said she will make her ruling on the admissibility of the text exchange between Howden and Raddysh on Friday.

Michael McLeod has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, including one relating to aiding in the offence. Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton and Carter Hart have each been charged with one count of sexual assault. All have pleaded not guilty to their charges.

The trial is nearing the end of its fifth week.