TORONTO — When she heard the sound of her pantyhose ripping, she knew there was nothing she could do, the woman testified Monday as she gave her account of an encounter with Frank Stronach decades ago.
Stronach had her pinned on a cot in his waterfront condo, and the two of them had been locked in a “tug of war” as she tried to prevent him from pushing her knee-length dress up, the woman told a Toronto court.
Then he grabbed the crotch of her pantyhose and yanked, tearing it in one strong movement, she said. He pulled a few more times until there was nothing left but the waistband, she said.
At that point, the woman realized she’d been overpowered and there was “no way out,” she said. She felt paralyzed and was sobbing quietly, she said.
“I just lay there with both hands just by my side and let him do what he wanted to do,” the woman said.
She heard Stronach unzip his pants and remembers him grunting and thrusting as he penetrated her, she testified. When she went to the bathroom to clean herself up afterward, she realized he had ejaculated inside her, she said.
The woman, now in her late 60s, is the seventh and final complainant to testify at the billionaire businessman’s sexual assault trial.
Stronach, who is 93, has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges related to alleged incidents spanning decades.
The woman took the stand Monday shortly after prosecutors told the court they were seeking to withdraw a charge of sexual assault related to another complainant.
Crown attorney Jelena Vlacic said prosecutors determined there was no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction on that count, which relates to an alleged incident in 1986.
Stronach’s defence lawyer, however, argued the judge should instead enter a finding of not guilty on that charge, saying her client has “earned it.”
Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy said they will revisit the issue once the Crown has finished presenting its evidence.
On the stand Monday, the seventh complainant said she first met Stronach when he sat across from her at Rooney’s, the restaurant and nightlife venue he owned, one night in 1982 or 1983.
She had gone with friends but was sitting alone at the time, she said. Stronach introduced himself and they chatted a bit, though she couldn’t remember what they talked about, she said.
Other people had mentioned he was the owner, but she didn’t know anything else about him at the time, she said.
Stronach asked if she would go to dinner with him and they made plans to meet at her apartment building on a weeknight about a week later, the woman said, adding she was “flattered” by the invitation.
She didn’t usually go out with older men, so the woman made a conscious effort to wear something sophisticated and conservative for their dinner, she said. She put on a black chiffon halter dress with black pantyhose and a black bolero jacket, but no underwear because she didn’t want any visible panty lines, she said.
Stronach picked her up in what she believes was a Porsche, then drove them to a revolving restaurant on the waterfront, she said. He ordered a bottle of wine with dinner and she had one or two glasses at most, she told the court, adding that she had all her faculties at the end of the meal. She didn’t know how much Stronach drank.
After dessert — an assortment of ice cream shrouded in dry ice that was brought out to great fanfare — Stronach asked if she wanted to go to his apartment, the woman said.
His unit was in a building attached to the hotel, she said. It was high up and dimly lit, with multiple windows and a great view of the lake, she said.
There was no tour when they arrived, she said. Instead, Stronach took her right to the living room couch, she said. They sat and talked a bit, then Stronach tried to kiss her, she said.
The woman “rebuffed” him, she said, telling the businessman she wasn’t there for that.
He got up, took her by the hand and told her to come along, she said.
As she was “reluctantly being pulled,” the woman tried to think about how she could manage the situation, she said. She thought she could go home if she gave him “a few smooches,” she said.
Stronach led her to a small room that looked like some kind of den, with a cot against the wall, she said. He lay on the cot and dragged her on top of him, then manoeuvred so she was on her back with her right arm trapped under him, she said.
He kissed her again and she “half-heartedly” participated, the woman said.
When his hand started going up her dress, she grabbed his wrist and said no, that she wasn’t there for that, she testified.
“He looked at me and said, ‘Yes,’” she said. “I said ‘No, this is not happening.’ And he said, ‘Yes, it is.’”
Neither of them spoke a word as he penetrated her, she said. “I’m sobbing quietly because I don’t want to anger him any more,” she said.
She tried to compose herself in the bathroom afterward but couldn’t stop crying, she said.
“I was absolutely destroyed. I was crying, I was shaking, I was upset … I was traumatized,” she said.
Stronach insisted on driving her home and she accepted because it seemed like the only option, given that she didn’t know where they were, she said.
When they pulled up to her building, he put his hand on her leg and asked if he could come upstairs, she said. The woman yelled no, then ran inside and went up to her apartment, where she had a “complete breakdown,” she said.
She threw out her torn pantyhose, which she’d stashed in her purse, along with the dress, she said. Feeling embarrassed and ashamed, she didn’t go to police or seek medical attention, she said.
In June 2024, the woman learned through a colleague that Stronach had been arrested, she said. It wasn’t until August, when more complainants had come forward and more charges been laid, that she gave a statement to police, she said.
The woman said she read the account of Jane Boon, a woman who is suing Stronach but is not involved in the criminal case, as well as articles laying out the allegations made by two of the complainants.
She also spoke to several lawyers, but has not filed a lawsuit against Stronach, she said.
Stronach initially faced 12 charges in the Toronto case, but prosecutors last week dropped a forcible confinement charge related to the sixth complainant to testify.
The sexual assault charge the Crown is now seeking to withdraw is the last remaining count related to that complainant.
Defence lawyer Leora Shemesh argued a not-guilty finding is warranted on that count in light of new evidence that surfaced Friday, when the trial wasn’t sitting.
The Crown received notes from a police officer regarding the sixth complainant’s 2006 report, Shemesh said.
Those notes, which had not previously been found because they were filed under the officer’s maiden name, are detailed and in “complete contradiction” to what the complainant said on the stand, Shemesh argued.
Court adjourned early Thursday in part due to concerns over that complainant’s well-being.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2026.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
