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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 defence lawyer for Canadian businessman Frank Stronach accused the fifth complainant in his sexual assault trial on Tuesday of having a “tendency to lie.”
“Do you have a hard time with the truth,” Leora Shemesh asked the woman at one point during cross-examination on Tuesday.
“I always tell the truth. I tell the truth as it comes out or as I remember it,” the woman said.
On the second day of cross-examination, Shemesh again challenged the woman on her testimony — compared to previous statements to police and Crown attorneys — accusing her of coming up with new memories and details that were never relayed to police in 2024 or as recently as January.
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.
Stronach, founder of auto-parts giant Magna International, has denied the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In an interview with The Fifth Estate, former Magna CEO Frank Stronach calls the allegations against him ‘lies.’
Stronach provided emotional support before rape, woman tells court
The woman is the fifth of seven female complainants to testify. Their allegations span the period between 1977 and 1990.
On Monday, the complainant told court she got to know Stronach through a mutual friend in the early 1980s. In 1990, sometime in early November, she said she saw him at a hotel restaurant located in Markham or Scarborough as she was waiting for a client.
The woman said Stronach sat down with her, that they chatted for a bit, and he asked for her number. They arranged to meet the following day, she said.
During that meeting, the woman, who had just months earlier given birth, told court that she became very emotional as she discussed with Stronach her breakup with her boyfriend.
The woman said Stronach was very understanding, tried to console her and suggested they continue their conversation in his hotel suite. Once in the hotel suite, she said, Stronach raped her.
Woman accused of making up friendship, some facts
On Tuesday, Shemesh accused the woman of making up some of the facts related to the case.
Shemesh said that her friend who introduced the complainant to Stronach was never Stronach’s girlfriend, despite what the complainant told police and court.
Shemesh also rejected the complainant’s testimony that the two had gone to a training school together.
Shemesh also said that the two never met until the late 1980s, even though the complainant said it was in the 1970s. Shemesh also asked if the complainant would be shocked to learn that the woman never considered her a friend and thought she was trying to steal her business.
The complainant rejected all the assertions by Shemesh and said she was surprised to hear that the woman never liked her.
Shemesh also focused on new details about the alleged attack that the woman disclosed on Monday.
Woman allegedly suffered vaginal tear from rape
The woman told court on Monday that she had suffered a vaginal tear from the rape, something she never told police, Shemesh said.
On Tuesday, the woman gave more details about that vaginal tear, saying that she had gone into the bathroom after the rape and used tissue to stop the bleeding.
She also told court on Tuesday that Stonach had said something like he was sorry the woman felt the way she did after the attack.
‘Come up with another story’
But all these details, Shemesh said, were new and never before relayed to police or Crown attorneys.
“I’m going to suggest to you … that if we stay here long enough, you’ll come up with another story,” Shemesh said.
“I’m going suggest to you that the reason why I say that is because you have a tendency to lie.”
The woman rejected the claim, insisting that some of these details come up now because she was never asked specific questions by police, and that new memories arise the more they discuss the incident.
‘A variety of new memories’
After the lunch recess, Shemesh went through a list of the new memories that she said the woman had provided to court but not police.
“There have been a variety of new memories in this courtroom over the day and a half,” Shemesh said.
“And the variety of new information, you say, just sort of comes to you. It hadn’t come to you before, but it comes to you now.”
“Yes,” the woman said.
Those new memories, according to Shemesh, included the woman telling the court she had briefly met with Stronach in August 1990, a few months before the alleged attack.
The new memories also included details of the alleged attack, Shemesh suggested. That included the woman telling the court how she was able to remove her hands that had been placed above her head and held by Stronach, Shemesh said.
Shemesh also zeroed in on the fact that the woman told police and the court that there was never any further contact with Stronach after the alleged attack.
Shemesh framed the alleged attack as Stronach having had a date with the woman, in which she “engaged in sexual acts with him,” and that she was upset about the fact that he never called her after.
“I was expecting some form of attempt of an apology,” the woman said.
“I’m going suggest to you what you were really upset about is that you didn’t get the relationship or the love that you were looking for,” Shemesh said.
“No, I was devastated and upset about what he did to me. He violated me,” the woman said.
The trial resumes on Wednesday.
