Warning: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers Police in Quebec City are reopening their investigation into an alleged group sexual assault eight years ago involving four players with the 2014 Gatineau Olympiques, according to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Karl Janhke, the hockey league's chief marketing officer, said in a statement to CBC News that "we will offer our complete co-operation throughout the process." The Quebec City Police Department (SVPQ) would not confirm or deny that it was reviewing the case in a statement issued Friday to Radio-Canada.
The league announced in 2015 that police had closed the case without laying any charges and noted that the allegations reported in the media "were serious and that this type of behaviour should at no time be trivialized." This is the latest case of police in Canada re-examining their investigations in the wake of Hockey Canada's controversy over its handling of group sexual assault allegations.
The allegations in the Quebec City case involve a woman alleging she went to meet one of the players at his hotel room in January 2014 and was later held down and sexually assaulted by three players at one time, Le Soleil newspaper reported in 2015, when it spoke to the complainant.