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Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard's sex assault trial delayed again
due to COVID-19
Singer pleaded not guilty at preliminary hearing to sexual assault
causing bodily harm, sexual interference
The Canadian Press ·
Posted: Jan 05, 2022 2:33 PM ET
Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, the frontman for the band Hedley, has once again seen his sexual assault trial postponed as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.
Hoggard was initially set to stand trial in January 2021, but it was pushed back to April of that year, and then again to this month.
Now, as jury trials are again put on hold due to the pandemic, his case has been delayed once more.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice announced in mid-December that there would be no new jury selection until at least Feb. 7 in light of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
However, it said the decision to continue or pause jury trials already underway would be left to the presiding judge.
Hoggard pleaded not guilty at his preliminary hearing to sexual assault causing bodily harm and sexual interference.
The singer was arrested and charged in 2018 in alleged incidents involving a woman and a teenager.
At the time, police said the charges stemmed from three separate incidents that allegedly took place in the Toronto area in 2016. Neither complainant can be identified due to a publication ban.
An investigation was launched earlier that year after allegations surfaced suggesting Hoggard had inappropriate encounters with young fans.
Months before his arrest, Hoggard issued a statement in which he acknowledged having behaved in a way that "objectified women" but denied any non-consensual sexual conduct.
Ex-peer sexually assaulted boy and attempted to rape girl – UK court
Former Labour politician Nazir Ahmed has been convicted of offenses committed almost 50 years ago
A court in the UK has found Nazir Ahmed guilty of the serious sexual assault of a boy and the attempted rape of a girl, both aged under 13, in offenses dating back to the 1970s.
The Pakistan-born politician was a teenager himself at the time of the offenses, Sheffield Crown Court heard. The prosecutor said that, while Ahmed had claimed all along that the allegations were a “malicious fiction,” a phone recording of a conversation between his two victims back in 2016 proved beyond reasonable doubt that the story had not been “made up or concocted.”
A woman who was party to that conversation recounted before the jury how Ahmed had attempted to rape her in the early 1970s.
The head of the Special Crime Division of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Rosemary Ainslie, praised the guilty verdict as proof that “where there is sufficient evidence, even in challenging cases, the CPS will bring a prosecution, put evidence before a jury and see rightful convictions,” and even when, as in this case, the defendant had held a “position of power, influence and responsibility for some time in the House of Lords.”
Ahmed’s two brothers, Mohammed Farouq and Mohammed Tariq, were charged with the indecent assault of the same boy whom Ahmed had also abused, but deemed unfit to stand trial. The politician was bailed pending a sentencing hearing to be held on February 4.
Ahmed is no stranger to allegations of sexual misconduct. He was forced to resign from the House of Lords in November 2020, following a conduct committee report that accused him of sexually and emotionally exploiting a vulnerable woman who had sought his assistance.
Ahmed has the dubious distinction of being the first peer recommended for expulsion. He stepped down of his own accord, however, before his colleagues could remove him from his post. The scandal that led to his downfall at the time was brought to public attention by an investigation carried out by the BBC program ‘Newsnight’.
Juror revelations may jeopardize Ghislaine Maxwell verdict
Lawyers for the convicted sex trafficker say the comments provide
‘incontrovertible grounds’ for a new trial
© AFP / US District Court for the Southern District of New York
Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers have been allowed to apply for a retrial, after reports emerged that two jurors may have swayed others to convict her for sex trafficking by revealing their own childhood sexual abuse histories.
On Wednesday, New York judge Alison Nathan gave the defense until January 19 to submit a legal motion to vacate the conviction. Maxwell’s lawyers had told the court that there were “incontrovertible grounds for a new trial” after one juror – identified as “Scotty David” – told various media outlets that he’d revealed his experience of abuse during jury deliberations.
Prosecutors also asked the judge to conduct a hearing into Scotty David’s interviews next month. The 35-year-old Manhattan resident told Reuters on Tuesday that he brought up his history after some jurors were skeptical about the accounts of two of Maxwell’s accusers.
“When I shared that, they were able to sort of come around on... the memory aspect of the sexual abuse,” David told the news agency, referring to how he had waited until reaching high school to talk to people about his abuse, in an effort to explain why some victims may not have come forward sooner.
Adding that he “flew through” the jury selection questionnaire, the juror also claimed he could not recall there being a question about personal experiences with sexual abuse, but maintained that he would have answered honestly. He also told the Daily Mail that “they don’t ask your sexual abuse history” during the selection process.
They would pretty much have to do that in order to find a dozen people without including at least one or two with a history of child sexual abuse.
However, court records reportedly show that some 230 prospective jurors had been given questionnaires that asked if they or someone they knew had experienced sexual abuse. According to the Daily Mail, the question required them to answer whether any such experience would affect their ability to serve impartially.
While David told the paper that he “definitely remembered” filling out the questionnaire on day one of selection and “would have definitely marked Yes,” he added that he “honestly [doesn’t] remember the question.” But he did recall a question about “family or relative or something being sexually abused.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with The New York Times, a second juror, who remains anonymous, revealed that they had also discussed being sexually abused as a child during jury deliberations. They told the paper it “appeared to help shape the jury’s discussions.”
Thanks to many pedophiles and perverts like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, there are millions of Americans who have survived child sexual abuse. Estimates range from 10-30%, with those closer to 10 not including peer-on-peer CSA.
As to whether there should be a mis-trial, CSA survivors would have a far greater understanding of the abuse than others. But there would need to be confirmation that the survivors were no longer emotionally affected by their abuse. That would eliminate a lot of potential jurors.
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