Toronto - The trial of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard on sexual assault charges is set to begin after several delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jury selection in the case is expected to start this morning at the Toronto Downtown Court. Hoggard, the lead singer of the band Hedley, defended himself and said he was not guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm and sexual interference during a two-day preliminary hearing in the summer of 2019.

He also chose to be tried by a jury instead of a judge alone, and was originally scheduled to be tried in January 2021. However, public health measures aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19 caused courts to suspend new jury trials for several months at a time during the pandemic, and the trial has been postponed several times and is now expected to continue until early June.

Hoggard was arrested and charged in 2018 for incidents involving a woman and a teenager police said occurred in the Toronto area in 2016.