WARNING: This story cites sexual assault allegations, and May affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who has been affected by sexual violence.
A woman says she’s struggling to come to terms with the fact that she may have walked into the bedroom of her Toronto apartment “like a lamb to the slaughter” and then been sexually assaulted by Frank Stronach, a court heard Thursday.
The woman, the fourth complainant to give evidence, now in her 60s, said the alleged attack took place in 1983.
“I just felt powerless,” she said. “It’s degrading.”
The 93-year-old founder of auto parts giant Magna International faces a total of 12 charges, including sexual assault and forcible confinement. Two of the charges, rape and attempted rape, are considered historical offenses because they were abolished in 1983 when the penal code was revised to create the crime of sexual assault.
Under questioning by Crown prosecutor Jelena Vlacic on the fifth day of the trial, the woman said her father knew Stronak and her mother arranged for her to get a summer job at Magna International when she was a college student.
She said Stronak invited her to a restaurant for dinner in late summer.
She said she was a little nervous about going because she didn’t know Stronak. But she said she thought it was a good invitation and that it made sense in the context of Stronak knowing her father.
The woman said she remembered ordering a gin and tonic drink for herself and while she couldn’t remember how many it was, she said it was “a lot for me”.
The woman told the court Stronak asked her if she wanted to enjoy the view from his Harborside apartment. She said she felt uncomfortable with the invitation but thought she should go because he took her out to dinner and found her a job.
When she walked in, she said, she walked to the window to look outside.
‘Shocked by what’s happening’
The woman testified that Stronak disappeared but suddenly he appeared behind her, put his arms around her and fondled her breasts.
“I’m shocked by what’s happening,” she said. The woman said she considered Stronak a friend of her father and someone she could trust.
“I just thought it couldn’t be true,” she said.
She said somehow she ended up face down on the bed in her bedroom. The woman said when she gave her initial statement to authorities, she told them she had no idea how she got laid. But she said, thinking about it, she must have walked.
“I think my brain just wasn’t processing the idea that I just… I wasn’t fighting for my… youth,” she said. “It’s really hard to live with. Like a lamb to the slaughter, you just walk in.”
Crown prosecutor Jelena Vlacic interviews the fourth complainant in Stronak’s sexual assault case in a Toronto courtroom. (Alexandra Newbold/CBC)
“So I don’t know what happened because it’s really painful to think that you didn’t do anything,” the woman said.
She said she remembered being face down with her cheek on the bed.
The woman said she was not completely naked but that Stronak had pulled her pants down, possibly to her thighs.
She said Stronak was behind her and inserted his penis into her vagina.
The woman told the court she said nothing when he attacked her and was just waiting for it to be over.
She said Stronak then drove her home but made no mention of what happened.
The woman told the court it was “ridiculous” for Stronak to suggest he visit her at her university.
“Is he trying to make it sound like what he just did was okay? Didn’t he realize that he just raped his friend’s daughter?” she said.
The 93-year-old founder of auto parts giant Magna International faces a total of 12 charges, including sexual assault and forcible confinement. (David Law/CBC)
The woman said she decided not to call police because her family didn’t have the resources and because she was taught as a child to “keep calm and carry on.”
She said she did meet Stronak about four years later when she asked him for a recommendation. She said it was humiliating, but she must have wanted the letter of recommendation so badly.
The woman said she contacted police in June 2024 after reading an article in The Guardian about the charges against Stronak.
During her testimony, the woman referred to a statement she gave authorities in which she said she was scared and was just waiting for the alleged attack to be over.
She then referred to a follow-up email she sent after her statement, in which she added that she had also been crying during the alleged attack.
“I think you said I gave inconsistent evidence,” the woman said, referring to prosecutor Vlasic.
At this point, Stronak’s attorney Leola Shemesh stood up and said she needed to file a motion, and the court adjourned.
The question relates to the woman’s testimony in the morning, in which she referred to a preparation meeting with the Crown prosecutor and police in January 2026.
The woman testified that during a preparation meeting, she and Vlasic were discussing how she didn’t know how she went to bed the night of the alleged attack, which may have been what Vlasic described as an “oversight.”
“Houston, we have a problem”
But Shemesh asked the complainant for forgiveness, telling the court: “We now feel like ‘Houston, we have a problem.'”
The problem, Shemesh said, was that the complainant was testifying about a discussion the complainant had with prosecutors during a preparation meeting in which they discussed her negligence. Shemesh said this was directly related to her application to stay the proceedings.
Before the trial began, Shemesh had said she would ask for the charges against her client to be stayed, arguing that some complainants may have received coaching during preparation meetings with the Crown.
Shemesh told the court on Thursday it was “somewhat unenviable” for the prosecution to raise questions about the prosecutor herself and her interactions with the complainant before the trial.
Shemesh said: “I am concerned that if we continue down this path the Crown will undoubtedly make itself a potential witness.”
Superior Court Judge Anne Molloy, who oversees judge-alone trials, said the issue was why she asked prosecutors to have a fully independent prosecutor ready and sitting in the courtroom in case the issue arose.
“This didn’t happen out of the blue,” Molloy said.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy is overseeing the trial, which is being held alone. (Alexandra Newbold/CBC)
After a break, Vlasic asked Molloy to rule on whether she could continue questioning witnesses.
Shemesh expressed her concern that the Crown may choose to subpoena evidence after any stay on previous applications ends.
“This means the Crown may… in certain circumstances, take off the gown and enter the witness box.”
Despite this potential conflict, Molloy said she does not want to rule on a possible conflict if one does not arise. She said she would not expel Vlasic and could continue questioning witnesses.
[Shemesh] There is no motion to remove you. I won’t delete you. She doesn’t run the court. Neither do you. I do,” she said.
Shemesh began questioning the woman in the late afternoon and will continue on Friday.
