'He's going to kill me': Ex-partner of Ont. politician Mike Strange testifies at ex-Olympian's assault trial

< warm>WARNING: This story inside information allegations of domestic help force.

Niagara Falls, Ont., Coun. Mike Strange's former partner testified Tuesday at the domestic assault trial for the ex-Olympian, outlining the injuries she says she suffered at their home in May 2025.

Proceedings on Tuesday for the two-day trial got underway in the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines with Strange pleading not guilty. He was first elected to city council in 2014, after representing Canada as a light-welterweight boxer in three Olympics.

Soon after, Susie Mowers, his now former common-law partner, was called to the witness box by Crown lawyer Nick Hegedus.

Strange was charged last year after Niagara Regional Police Service officers responded to a call at his home and reported finding a woman with injuries.

The couple had been together for 13 years up to that point.

Mowers testified that she and Strange had been drinking at a Falls Hose Brigade Cinco de Mayo event on May 2, and after taking a ride-share home early the next morning, they began arguing over an affair she said he had the previous year.

According to Mowers, he pushed her off their bed, and she fell onto the floor and tried to get up, but was repeatedly “knocked back down to the ground."

She said Strange punched her as she was lying on her back on a dog bed, guarding her face with her forearms.

"I remember thinking, 'This time, he's going to kill me.'"

She said she was left bleeding "profusely" and her dark blue basketball shorts were "drenched in blood." She also testified she had a bloody nose, a bald spot on the top of her head from Strange pulling her by the hair, a gash on her upper lip and bruises on her left jaw and hip.

Hegedus showed the court police photos of Mowers with spots of blood around her lips and a streak down her chin. The court also saw photos of what appeared to be smeared drops of blood on Mowers's and Strange's bed. Mowers said the blood was hers.

Other photos presented in court were taken a week after police arrived at the home, and showed Mowers with a bald spot on her head and a clump of hair on the bedroom floor.

Defence lawyer Michael DelGobbo questioned Mowers on how she looked in the photos. 

"This Olympic boxer was punching on you and the extent of your injuries are something under your chin," he said incredulously.

Mowers responded she was bloodier before the photos were taken, but paramedics cleaned her up.

Later Tuesday, the Crown called two Niagara regional police officers, Constables Skyla Read and Michael Marynuik, who responded to Mowers's 911 call. Both testified they found Mowers with “blood dripping onto her chest,” hands and areas of her lower half.

Marynuik said he arrested Strange a block from his home, adding he found the councillor “visually impaired by alcohol” due to his “slurred speech” and “glossed eyes.” 

The officer said he did not note if Mowers appeared to be drinking.

Called by the defence, Niagara Emergency Services (EMS) paramedic Derek Causarano testified about the 911 call, saying Mowers had a "small laceration" under her chin, with a streak of blood. 

He said she denied head or neck pain, was able to turn head and neck, and did not report feeling dizzy. The paramedic also said he asked Mowers how she was hit more than once, but she said she didn't know because she had been drinking. 

Under cross-examination by Strange's lawyer, DelGobbo, Mowers was questioned on her recollection of events and he pointed to what she said she couldn't remember, such as how the argument started and whether she hit Strange. 

DelGobbo read passages from a transcript of her 911 call, and a report by an ambulance attendant that highlighted where the attendant wrote the "patient reports she does not remember specifically how she was assaulted due to intoxication."

Mowers said she struggled to recall the incident due to a concussion, and she was “impaired by alcohol and impaired by trauma.”

No concussion or head trauma was noted in EMS reports, the defence said.

DelGobbo presented an alternate version of events to Mowers: That she became upset about the affair, Strange made a disparaging comment about her having a drinking problem and she attacked Strange, at one point losing balance and falling into a dresser. 

"I'm going to suggest you were the one assaulting him," he said, adding the assault allegation was "payback" designed to hurt his reputation.

Mowers responded, "I'm not lying."

Strange has remained in his job as the criminal case plays out, something that caused a stir in the council chambers in June, when members of the women-led advocacy group Women of Ontario Say No (WOSN) requested to speak before council. 

WOSN had been advocating across Ontario for an addition to the Municipal Accountability Act, stipulating that any councillor charged with assault be placed on automatic, paid leave until a case is resolved in the courts.

City staff blocked WOSN from speaking about Bill 9. On June 17, Niagara police officers arrested three women in the council chambers after they refused to put away signs that said the name of the advocacy group.

Around that time, Strange came under fire for a July 6 email a friend sent on his behalf inviting members of the Falls View Hose Brigade, a local fundraising group, to "fill the chambers so there is no space for the women's group to sit" on July 8.

In August, a local resident lodged an integrity commissioner complaint against Strange, accusing him of breaching the city's code of conduct by inviting Hose Brigade members to the chambers. 

However, a December report by integrity commissioner Michael Maynard found Strange did not breach the code, saying it does not stop “normal political activities, such as rallying support for an individual or an issue.”

Strange's criminal trial continues Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET. His lawyer said he plans to call the councillor as a witness in his own defence.  After that, he might call one more witness. 

If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. If you're affected by family or intimate partner violence, you can look for help through crisis lines and local support services. ​​

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