Second complainant testifies Frank Stronach groped her in downtown condo

At dinner, Frank Stronach had felt like a “fatherly mentor” but things changed once they were alone in his downtown Toronto condo, a woman told his sexual assault trial as she described an evening in the early 1980s.

The woman had previously worked at Stronach’s restaurant and nightclub and agreed to meet him for dinner after asking him for details on her termination from the popular hot spot, she said.

After dinner, she said, her former employer asked her to come see his nearby condo and she reluctantly agreed despite feeling “uncomfortable.”

She felt the hair raise on the back of her neck and her heart start pounding almost immediately after stepping inside what she believed to be a penthouse apartment, she said.

“I felt afraid to be in that apartment with him alone,” she said, adding that the “fatherly vibe” was gone.

When she insisted that she had to go, Stronach helped her slip on her coat, but he held on to her lapels or shoulders as she turned back around to face him, she said. The woman backed up against the wall by the door and then Stronach was up against her, groping her as he tried to convince her to stay, she said.

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“He was going up and down, up and down my body,” touching her breasts and hips, she said, mimicking the motion with both hands. “I was terrified.”

2:22 First complainant at Frank Stronach trial called ‘ storyteller’ during cross-examination

The woman said she did her best to get out of the situation, expressing her gratitude for Stronach’s professional help while making it clear that physical intimacy “wasn’t going to happen.”

After what “felt like forever” but was likely a minute or two, Stronach backed off and the woman bolted, confused by the way things had unfolded, she said.

Stronach, who is 93, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges related to seven complainants over alleged incidents that date as far back as the 1970s.

The woman, now 63, is the second complainant to take the stand. All seven complainants — none of whom can be identified under a standard publication ban — are expected to testify at the judge-alone trial, which began last week after some delay.

The woman’s testimony Tuesday was emotional at times, and she wiped away tears as she voiced her discomfort at having to discuss such intimate things in public.

The first complainant, a woman in her 60s, told the court last week that Stronach came over with champagne when she was at his restaurant with friends in the early 1980s, then groped her on the dance floor.

She testified that she woke up in an unknown place later that night and realized he was raping her.

The defence suggested the first woman’s narrative of what happened has evolved with time, highlighting discrepancies in what she told police, media and the court over the years.