Former Vancouver Canuck Jake Virtanen has taken the stand at his British Columbia Supreme Court trial, after his defence lawyer finished cross-examination of the woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2017.
Virtanen told the jury trial he met the woman when he was 20 and she was 18 in July 2017 at the Calgary Stampede, and they stayed in touch over Instagram and text messages throughout that summer when they both returned to B.C.
He testified that he was not adamant or insistent that he and the woman meet on the night of the alleged assault in his downtown Vancouver hotel room, though he had told her he would be busy with Canucks commitments for the rest of the week.
Virtanen told the court the woman did not raise any concerns after he picked her up from the friend’s house where she was staying and drove with her back to the hotel.
The woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, has testified that she repeatedly said “no” before Virtanen allegedly sexually assaulted her that night.
Virtanen, who is now 25, was charged with one count of sexual assault in January following an investigation by Vancouver police.
During cross-examination earlier Thursday, Virtanen’s defence lawyer Brock Martland asked the woman why she attended a pre-season game between the Canucks and Calgary Flames two days after the night of the alleged assault.
She agreed that the incident she had described was an “aggressive rape,” which was traumatic for her, and that she didn’t want to see Virtanen afterwards.
She told the jury trial she went to the game with her friend because she had always wanted to attend a professional game, having played sports throughout her life.
The woman also testified she hadn’t yet fully processed what had happened and she was texting Virtanen as if everything was normal because she wanted to pretend the alleged assault hadn’t occurred.
The Canucks placed Virtanen on leave in May 2021 after the sexual assault allegation was made public, and bought out his contract the following month. He last played in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League.
During cross-examination earlier this week, Martland argued that a sexual encounter between the woman and Virtanen was consensual.
He had suggested she could have offered up an excuse for why she couldn’t have sex, like saying she was menstruating.
“I thought saying ‘No, I don’t want to do this. I seriously don’t want to do this,’ holding my hands on his hips, pushing him off me, was enough,” she had replied.
Before wrapping up his cross-examination on Thursday, Martland apologized for the question about why she had not offered an excuse, calling it insensitive.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2022.
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