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WARNING: This story references sexual assault allegations and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
Canadian businessman Frank Stronach said that “justice will prevail” in his sexual assault trial being held in a Toronto courthouse.
Stronach made the brief comments to CBC’s Jamie Strashin after court recessed on Tuesday following a day of cross-examination of the seventh complainant.
They were in response to being asked how he was feeling after hearing allegations from all seven female complainants.
The 93-year-old founder of auto-parts giant Magna International has been in court during the entire proceedings, wearing a dark suit and listening to all the testimony.
He faces a total of 10 charges, including sexual assault. Two of the 10 counts, rape and attempted rape, are considered historical charges as they were abolished when the Criminal Code was amended in 1983 to create the offence of sexual assault.
There were initially 12 counts, but two of the charges related to the sixth complainant were dropped by the Crown.
The allegations span the period between 1977 and 1990. Many of the women have told similar stories — meeting Stronach at Rooney’s, the Toronto restaurant he used to own, and then accepting an invitation back to his Harbourfront condo. It’s there where they allege he sexually assaulted them.
The founder of auto-parts giant Magna International has denied the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The seventh complainant is still being cross-examined by Stronach’s lawyer Leora Shemesh.
The woman, now 69, testified that she had met Stronach at Rooney’s, the restaurant he owned, sometime between 1982 and 1983.
The week after they met, the woman said that they ended up going out to a restaurant at a Harbourfront hotel. She said that during dessert, she accepted Stronach’s offer to go back to his condo.
‘Not here for that’
Once there, Stronach attempted to kiss her, but she rebuffed him, telling him she was “not here for the that,” the woman told court.
She said he then pulled her to a room with a cot, and she reluctantly followed him.
The woman said that she was thinking she could control the situation by giving Stronach “a few smooches” there, and then she would “be on my way. And we’re going to be done with it.”
She said Stronach, laying on the cot, pulled her on top of him. Stronach again attempted to kiss her and then put his hand up her dress, the woman testified.
She told the court she was overpowered by Stronach and said to herself she had to “let this happen because you can’t fight him, you can’t push him off …. he’s got you trapped.”
The woman said Stronach climbed on top of her, unzipped his pants, took out his penis and raped her with no condom.
But on Tuesday, Shemesh put to the woman that all the sexual acts between her and Stronach were consensual, an accusation the woman flatly denied.
Shemesh also accused the woman of lying at various times during her testimony in court.
‘So you lied’
Shemesh referred to the woman’s preliminary testimony, in which she told court she had not read an account in the media from another woman who alleged Stronach ripped her pantyhose during her encounter with him.
Shemesh pointed out that the woman had told police and the Crown attorneys that she had read that report.
“So you lied,” Shemesh said.
The woman said the testimony was incorrect, but that she was incredibly overwhelmed and discombobulated by the experience of being in court.
Shemesh also referred to another section of the woman’s testimony at the preliminary hearing, in which she testified she didn’t reach out to anyone before contacting police in 2024 about the alleged rape.
The woman, however, testified at the trial that she had reached out to a civil litigator before making contact with police.
The woman told Shemesh that she was under the assumption that her conversation with any lawyer was privileged information.
“So you thought it was OK to lie to a judge,” Shemesh said.
The woman repeated that she thought that because it was privileged information she did not have to disclose the contact.
