A woman who worked at Frank Stronach’s Toronto restaurant and nightclub in the early 1980s says he went from a “fatherly mentor” to someone who made her feel “terrified” once they were alone in his downtown condo.
The woman, now 63, is the second complainant to take the stand at the billionaire businessman’s sexual assault trial, which began last week after some delay.
On the stand this morning, she said she had gone to dinner with Stronach at his request after asking him to clarify why she had recently been fired from the venue.
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After dinner, she said, her former employer asked her to come see his nearby condo and she reluctantly agreed, but immediately grew uneasy because she felt his intentions had changed.
When she insisted on leaving shortly afterward, the woman testified Stronach groped her, running his hands up and down her body as he tried to convince her to stay.
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 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 woman’s narrative of what happened has evolved with time, highlighting discrepancies in what she told police, media and the court over the years.
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