By The Canadian Press

Woman tells Frank Stronach’s trial she felt ‘terrified’ during alleged sexual assault

Feb 12, 2026 | 1:00 AM

TORONTO — A woman testifying at Frank Stronach’s sexual assault trial described feeling “terrified” decades ago when she woke up in a bed in an unknown place and realized she was being raped.

The woman — who cannot be identified under a standard publication ban — says she saw her face and someone’s back reflected in a mirror above the bed, and felt someone she realized was Stronach having sex with her.

The woman, who was in her early 20s at the time, says she didn’t know where she was or how she’d gotten there from Stronach’s restaurant in Toronto, where she first ran into the businessman that night while celebrating her upcoming birthday with co-workers.

But she says she knew she hadn’t consented because she would never have slept with “an old man, particularly an old, married man.”

Stronach, who is 93, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges related to seven complainants for incidents that allegedly took place from the late 1970s to the 1990s.

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Prosecutors say they intend to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the complainants did not consent to sexual activity with Stronach, and that he knew they didn’t or was willfuly blind to it.

The woman, now in her 60s, told the court she first met Stronach while she was working at a Toronto racetrack in what she believes was the spring and summer of 1981.

They crossed paths “a handful of times” at Woodbine racetrack, mostly talking about horses, she testified, adding she knew the auto parts magnate owned horses. They spoke a few times after she left the track to work at a farm, again about horses, she said.

Later that summer, two of her new co-workers suggested going out to Rooney’s, Stronach’s restaurant, to celebrate her birthday, the woman said.

On a Thursday night after work, the woman put on her favourite grey knit dress — the one she usually wore to church — slipping her underwear over her pantyhose to help secure it in place, then drove to the restaurant to meet the others, she said.

The restaurant seemed empty as she sat down at the table with her co-workers, she said.

Almost immediately, Stronach appeared with a bottle of champagne, “kind of like, ‘surprise!’,” she said.

The woman said she remembered telling him she didn’t drink, then “coming to on the dance floor” to him holding her tightly and pressing his hands in her crotch.

“I felt his fingers directly inside me and I recall it being painful,” she said. “I recall not understanding what was going on,” feeling discombobulated and incapable of controlling her body, she added.

Her dress was lifted in the front, her underwear had been pushed aside and there was a hole in her pantyhose, she said.

Stronach quickly shoved her in a booth, where he continued sticking his fingers inside her and touching her body, the woman said. She could see silhouettes nearby but didn’t know if they were also in the booth, she said.

“I knew I couldn’t walk, my body was not working, my legs weren’t working, I was weak,” she said.

Her next memory is of waking up with Stronach on top of her, she said.

The woman was the first witness to take the stand as the trial began Thursday after more than a week of delay.

The judge-alone trial was initially scheduled to begin early last week but Stronach’s lawyer asked for more time to prepare after receiving what she described as a large volume of disclosure “at the 11th hour.”

When court reconvened for an update days later, defence lawyer Leora Shemesh indicated she would apply for a stay of proceedings over concerns some of the complainants may have been coached by prosecutors.

The application would be heard after the trial, which was rescheduled to Thursday.

The billionaire businessman, best known as the founder of the auto parts conglomerate Magna International, is also expected to stand trial in Newmarket, Ont., later this year on sexual assault charges. He has denied those allegations as well.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2026.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press