By The Canadian Press

Complainant in Stronach trial breaks into tears as she describes alleged sex assault

Feb 23, 2026 | 9:33 AM

TORONTO — Frank Stronach turned into a “different person” inside his hotel suite, growing more aggressive the more she pleaded with him to stop, a woman tearfully told the billionaire businessman’s sexual assault trial Monday.

The woman, who is the fifth complainant to testify in the case, said she first encountered Stronach through a friend in the early ’80s then reconnected with him when they crossed paths at a hotel restaurant about a decade later.

He asked for her number and the next day called to invite her out to lunch at the same restaurant, she said. They met up a day later and while catching up on their lives, the woman started crying about her relationship falling apart, she said.

Stronach asked if she wanted to continue their conversation in his suite, which the woman said she’d viewed as a “simple gesture” to make the situation less embarrassing.

Once inside the suite, however, she said Stronach slipped her purse and jacket off her arm, embraced her and pushed her backwards until she was laying on a bed. She wasn’t sure what was happening until he started undoing the buttons of her top, she said.

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The woman “kept saying no,” and tried to keep her shirt closed, she said. Meanwhile, Stronach had undone his pants and had nothing on from the waist down, she said.

“He became a different person, not the person I thought I knew,” she said.

At some point, he snapped the buttons of her shirt, lifted her bra up to her neck, then lifted her skirt and tore her pantyhose and underwear, she said. He used his legs to try to pry her knees apart, and her efforts to squeeze them shut left her bruised, she said.

“I wasn’t strong enough to fight him,” she said, crying. “He forced himself on me.”

Stronach, who is 93, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges involving seven complainants. The charges stem from incidents dating back as far as the 1970s.

Prosecutors have said they intend to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the incidents occurred, that the complainants didn’t consent, and that Stronach knew they didn’t or was wilfully blind to that fact.

On the stand Monday, the woman who is now 71 said she kept saying no and pleading with him to stop, but he was “so forceful, so strong.”

“The more I kept saying no … the more aggressive he became,” she said.

He penetrated her without protection and ejaculated, and the woman later worried about the risk of pregnancy because she wasn’t on birth control at the time, she said.

It was painful because she had recently had a baby, and had not had sexual relations since giving birth, the woman said. “I bled,” she said.

Afterward, the woman said Stronach tried to calm her down, telling her everything was OK. It took about half an hour for her to stop crying, then Stronach handed over her purse and jacket, asked her if she was OK to drive and walked her to the suite’s door, she said.

She took the elevator to the garage and sat in her car for a while before driving home, she said.

At no point did she initiate or reciprocate physical contact with Stronach, nor did she want it, the woman said. She mentioned wanting “love and romance” while at the restaurant, but nothing sexual, she said.

The woman said she didn’t go see a doctor or get therapy because she was too ashamed, and she was worried about losing custody of her children.

She never spoke to Stronach again after that, she said.

The woman reached out to police in June 2024 after seeing a news report about Stronach being charged, she said.

“I was in shock … it brought everything back,” she said.

Lawyers were set to make arguments on legal issues behind closed doors before the defence starts cross-examining the woman.

None of the complainants can be identified under a standard publication ban.

Earlier Monday, a woman who is suing Stronach over allegations of sexual assault was told she couldn’t watch the court proceedings because she is listed as a potential witness.

Jane Boon is not part of the criminal case against Stronach, but at least one of the complainants told the court they read Boon’s account in a newspaper op-ed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2026.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press