Support for survivors
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and is in need of support, those in Canada can find province-specific centres, crisis lines and services here. For readers in America, a list of resources and references can be found here.
VANCOUVER — A woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Jake Virtanen says she never had any intention of going to the former Vancouver Canucks forward’s hotel room.
The woman, whose identity is covered by a publication ban, testified in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, saying she had no desire to have sex with Virtanen when he picked her up from a friend’s house on Sept. 26, 2017.
“If I wanted to have a sexual encounter, even if there was part of me that wanted to, I’d been travelling all day,” she said. “I would have showered again. To be honest, I probably would have shaved my legs. And I didn’t do any of that because I was so certain and so set on it not happening.”
Virtanen, 25, was charged with one count of sexual assault in January following a police investigation into the 2017 incident, which took place when he was playing for the Canucks.
Vancouver police launched their investigation in May 2021 after the 23-year-old woman filed a complaint.
Virtanen sat in the courtroom on Monday, dressed in a blue suit and attentively listening to the Crown counsel’s opening statement and the women’s testimony.
The court heard that the woman was 18 when she met Virtanen at the Calgary Stampede in July 2017. She said that she did not recognize Virtanen at the time and that she does not follow the Canucks.
While in Calgary, the woman and Virtanen kissed and exchanged numbers, then stayed in touch via text and direct messages on Instagram after they both returned to B.C.
“Nothing very sexual, just basic conversation, getting to know each other,” she said.
In September 2017, the woman travelled to Vancouver to visit friends and take part in a photo shoot. She messaged Virtanen about seeing one another, and when he suggested meeting on the night she arrived, she offered to get together another day.
“I didn’t want to be put in a situation that made me uncomfortable,” she said. “I was worried that late at night, I would be put in a sexual situation.”
Eventually, the woman agreed to meet Virtanen that night and he picked her up from a friend’s house. The woman said they did not talk about what they would do and she believed they would “be in public somewhere.”
“I thought we would just get to know each other, maybe go for a drive or a walk,” she said.
Instead, they went to a hotel in downtown Vancouver where Virtanen was staying.
The woman said she “felt sick” when she realized where they were.
“I had this kind of sinking feeling in my stomach,” she said. “It was the exact situation I didn’t want to be put in.”
The woman said she did not tell Virtanen she was uncomfortable or ask him to take her somewhere else.
“I felt like I’d be able to get out of any situation I didn’t want to be in,” she said.
The Canucks placed Virtanen on leave in May 2021 and his contract was bought out the next month.
He last played for Spartak Moscow in the Russian-based KHL and is not in custody.
Discussion about this post