Woman became recluse, lost ‘zest for life’ after alleged sex assault by Frank Stronach, court hears

WARNING: This story references sexual assault allegations and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

A woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Frank Stronach back in 1986 said she became a social recluse after the alleged attack made her mistrust men for the rest of her life.

“It caused me a great deal of trauma, emotional stress,” the woman said, getting emotional in the witness box, as she described what the alleged assault had done to her.

The woman said she used to be very socially active, but that the alleged attack made her lose her “zest for life.”

“I just became a social recluse. I became very depressed and I was living in fear,” she said.

She told the court that she was mostly angry over having her trust betrayed.

“That’s why I’m alone. Because I could never trust another man for the rest of my life,” she said, sobbing.

“But he betrayed my trust not just towards him, but towards everyone I met after him.”

The 73-year-old woman, who is the sixth of seven female complainants in the sexual assault trial of the Canadian businessman, became very emotional throughout her testimony, often breaking out in tears.

Crown prosecutor Jelena Vlacic, along with Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy, were challenged to keep the complainant focused on the questions being asked her.

Molloy, at points, had to order the woman to stop talking and just answer the question.

Stronach, 93, faces a total of 11 charges, including sexual assault. On Wednesday, Vlacic withdrew a forcible confinement charge related to the sixth complainant.

Two of the 11 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.

Stronach, founder of auto-parts giant Magna International, has denied the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Under questioning by Vlacic, the woman told court on Wednesday that she had gone to Rooney’s, the Toronto restaurant that Stronach owned, on Valentine’s Day in 1986. She said she was sitting at the bar when a man, who introduced himself as Frank, began chatting with her.

She said they began discussing their mutual interest in skiing, and that he ordered some glasses of wine for her and a bowl of shrimp.

At one point they danced, but the woman said she resisted dancing close with him. As the evening progressed, the woman said he offered to give her a lift home.

She said she was somewhat hesitant, that something inside her was telling her “don’t go with this guy.”

But it was a free ride, the subways were not operating at that time of the night, and she wasn’t “anticipating anything dangerous,” she said.

The woman told court that while Stronach was driving her home, she started getting concerned when he didn’t turn on the street she had directed him to.

He said he was going a faster route. However, instead of driving her home, they ended up in the underground parking garage of a Harbourfront condo building, the woman testified.

She said Stronach said he was tired and just wanted to stop there for five minutes to have a coffee. She said she told him she didn’t want to have a coffee and just wanted to be driven home.

The woman said he put his arm around her, reassured her it would just be a coffee, maybe a bite to eat, and then he would take her home.

Ceiling covered in mirrors

She said she reluctantly followed him up to his condo, which was on a top floor. Once inside, she said she saw a huge bed, which Stronach said was a water bed. She also said the ceiling was covered in mirrors.

The woman said they sat on the couch, but that she was getting anxious. She said that she was hungry and went over to the kitchen, but there was no food to be found, only alcohol.

‘I started really panicking’

The woman said that at one point Stronach disappeared, and then suddenly he was laying on the bed, naked. She said he was telling her to come over to the bed, but she refused.

“I started realizing what’s going on, what his objective is,” she said. “I started really panicking because the reality hit me.”

She said Stronach was telling her to take her clothes off, that he wanted to see her naked, and to come to him.

“I said, ‘no, I’m not taking my clothes off, and I’m not coming there,'” she said.

The woman said Stronach grabbed her wrists at one point and was using “gentle force” to pull her towards him.

At one point, the woman said threatened to break the windows of his Toronto Harbourfront condo and jump into Lake Ontario.

“I just shouted, ‘Take me home, take me home, take me home,’” she said.

“And then I even threatened him that ‘if you’re not going to put your clothes on, if you’re not going to take me home, I’m going to break all those windows, and I’m going to jump in the lake.’”

She said she made her way to the couch, and Stronach put his pants on. She said he went to the couch to sit beside her and tried to calm her down, telling her not to panic or worry, that he wouldn’t do anything to her.

She said, however, that Stronach’s pants were unzipped.

The woman told court that he then unzipped her pants and pulled them down part way and then sexually assaulted her.

At first, the woman was reluctant to use the word penis when asked by Crown prosecutor Vlacic and Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy to be more specific about the alleged assault.

The woman began getting emotional and agitated as she explained to the court she couldn’t remember that specific word and was searching to say something more professional.

Eventually she told court: “That’s what went inside my vagina, his penis.”

Woman says Stronach offered her job after

The woman said she was in a state of shock after the alleged attack and felt numb and dirty.

I feel like I was treated like a piece of used garbage, trash,” she said. “I never expected that. Never, never agreed to something like that.”

The woman said Stronach drove her home afterward, and that during the drive he told her he owned Rooney’s and could get her a job there.

She said she didn’t respond, but that once she was out of the car, she slammed the door and told him: “Take your job and shove it.”

The woman said that it wasn’t until a couple months later, that she saw Stronach’s picture in the Toronto Star that she realized he was the man who had allegedly attacked her.

“I nearly fainted. ‘Oh, my God, this is the man. That’s him. 
That’s him.’ And I was just in a state of shock when I saw that picture.”

The trial resumes on Thursday.