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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.
The third female complainant in the sexual assault trial of Canadian businessman Frank Stronach is testifying in a Toronto courtroom.
Court has already heard from two women who related details of their alleged assaults by the founder of auto-parts giant Magna International. All seven complainants are expected to testify at the judge-alone trial being overseen by Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy.
Stronach, 93, faces a total of 12 charges, including sexual assault and forcible confinement. Two of the 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.
The allegations by the seven women in Toronto span the period between 1977 and 1990, with one specified as having happened in suburban Scarborough.
Stronach is also set to face a separate trial in Newmarket, Ont., later this year after the case was split into two proceedings.
On Tuesday, court heard from one woman who alleged that Stronach had groped her in a Toronto condominium decades ago.
She said Stronach had invited her to dinner to discuss the reasons why she had been fired from Rooney’s, a restaurant that Stronach owned.
She said during dinner, she accepted an invitation from Stronach to visit his Toronto condo.
She said when she arrived, she soon began to feel afraid, her heart began pounding, and she wanted to leave. She said as she was about to exit, Stronach got very physically close to her. She said her back was against the wall while Stronach’s hands touched her body, including her breasts.
The woman said she had made it clear to Stronach that she didn’t want any intimate contact with him, and eventually she was able to leave.
She testified that she was contacted by an employee at Magna International weeks later to come in to the head office for a job interview. She said she ended up working there for a number of years.
The woman said that while she was there, she would regularly cross paths with Stonach, but that he was always polite, and the alleged attack was never discussed.
Under cross examination, Stronach’s lawyer Leora Shemesh suggested that the woman was providing many more details in her testimony than she had in previous statements.
Shemesh also raised comments the woman made to police in September 2024, in which she sad she didn’t believe she had been sexually assaulted.
The woman said she was referring to having not have had any intimate sex with Stronach.
