Image Credit: The Canadian Press

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: No winners in hockey assault trial

Jul 27, 2025 | 6:00 AM

As the trial of five hockey players accused of sexual assault by a young woman started to wind down last week, testimony became more and more emotional.

The young complainant, who stuck with her testimony and persevered despite the graphic description of her alleged behaviour that night seven years ago in a London, Ontario hotel room was something I don’t think many of us could easily handle.

Though the hockey players were acquitted on the sexual assault charges, they did not win.

The stigma of this case will remain with all parties for a long time.

I’m not going to comment much on the details of the case. There will likely be more litigation arising from this.

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But this case points out some huge failures in the justice system. Why do so many cases take so long to go to trial? Why do both sides in this case have to endure pain and suffering waiting? That’s wrong.

The complainant in this case will have to bear the scars forever.

One young woman having to answer the questions of five defence teams all trying to get their clients acquitted was hard to witness.

There is no real closure here. No winners.

Society has been the real loser here.

We have shown once again that in our search for the truth, we have fallen far short in our efforts.

In many ways, we seem to have reached a draw. Is that the best we can do?

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.