MANDEL: Fifth complainant at Frank Stronach trial accused of lying
· Toronto Sun
She begged him to stop, but the esthetician alleged that billionaire Frank Stronach raped her in a hotel room in 1990 and told her, “You will love it.”
Or at least that’s the account the fifth complainant gave police when she first came forward in June 2024 after Stronach had been arrested on sex assault charges. She told investigators she’d been friends with Stronach’s former girlfriend and after bumping into him at a hotel restaurant where she was meeting a client, she agreed to meet him for lunch the next day.
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There was a “spark,” she said, and she was open to a new relationship.
When she began crying while confiding in Stronach about the infidelity of her new baby’s father, she agreed to his invitation to speak more privately in his hotel suite.
“I trusted him,” she testified. “I saw him many times. He was a gentleman.”
That changed suddenly when he backed her on to a bed and ripped off her clothes, she said, ignoring her cries to stop.
“I didn’t know if I was going to make it out of the room alive,” she said.
Stronach, the 93-year-old founder of auto-parts giant Magna International, has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges involving seven women that date from 1977 to 1990.
Complainant accused of embellishing story
In a scathing cross-examination, Stronach’s lawyer Leora Shemesh accused the fifth complainant of constantly embellishing her story, offering “new memories.”
“Do you just make up things up while you’re sitting in the stand?” the lawyer demanded.
“I just remember things, I’m flashing back as to what event took place 40 years ago,” she explained.
“Do you have a hard time with the truth?” Shemesh shot back.
“I always tell the truth. I tell the truth as it comes out or as I remember it.”
It was only during her testimony that she’s mentioned for the first time that Stronach commented on her “beautiful breasts,” that she bled after the encounter and had to deal with it in the bathroom, that he apologized and that she stuffed her panties into her purse before leaving, Shemesh said. None of these details were reported to the prosecution despite her having volunteered another police statement only last month, according to Shemesh.
Some of it was due to shame and feeling uncomfortable, the woman said. The complainant also testified that some of the details are being revealed now because she was never asked specific questions by police and she said that new memories arise the more they discuss the incident.
The defence lawyer reminded her that she made a point of telling police she never heard from Stronach after the alleged rape.
“He didn’t even make one phone call to even attempt to apologize,” she agreed.
Shemesh seemed to suggest the woman was angry because he’d jilted her after casual sex.
“What you were really upset about is that you didn’t get the relationship, or the love, that you were looking for,” she charged, a claim the witness denied.
Lawyer questions lack of immediate report
The lawyer also questioned why she remained in the hotel room after the alleged assault and didn’t report it to anyone. The witness said she was sobbing and Stronach was trying to calm her down before he let her leave.
“I remember he said sorry, we’ll see each other again,” she said.
Shemesh accused her of adding yet another new memory.
“Do you think maybe you’re creating it in your mind?” the lawyer asked. “Do you think you’re relying on some sort of a soap opera to help you formulate particular facts?”
“No, no, no,” the witness insisted “I had to live through this nightmare 35 and a half years of my life. I never forgot what happened and the fact that I was raped against my will.”
Perhaps she’s telling the truth. Perhaps she isn’t. It will be for Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy to determine at the judge-alone trial.
Credibility in court questioned
But there’s little doubt her reliability as a witness certainly suffered a serious blow when the defence lawyer confronted her about her past skirmishes with the justice system. While she said she could count the number of lawsuits on one hand, Shemesh showed her she’s been sued almost two dozen times by banks, companies and individuals. There have been numerous judgments against her — including one where the judge made a searing comment about her lack of credibility in court.
Like shooting fish in a barrel, Shemesh asked if she’d ever declared bankruptcy. She insisted she had not. Then the lawyer produced the document showing she’d filed for bankruptcy more than a decade ago.
And then there was what Shemesh labelled her “false allegation” that had a man briefly arrested for threatening her about five years ago.
According to Shemesh, it was after police reviewed the video of their interaction in a parking lot and saw she was actually confrontational rather than terrified for her life, that investigators released the man she’d accused.
“In this case, the one against Mr. Stronach, we don’t have access to a video, right?” the lawyer said pointedly.
“Yes, that’s right.”
The sixth complainant is expected to testify Wednesday.