Evidence related to 1 of complainants in Stronach sex assault trial 'fatally flawed': judge

< warm>WARNING: This story references sexual assault allegations and may move those who feature experient​ ​​​sexual force or know someone affected by it.

An Ontario judge said she would not be able to convict Canadian businessman Frank Stronach on the charges related to one of the complainants in his sex assault trial, saying her evidence is "fatally flawed."

"I will not be finding that the evidence of [the complainant] rises to the level of being even remotely reliable," Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy told court Wednesday morning.

The counts related to the complainant, who was the first to testify at the trial, were allegations of rape and indecent assault. The woman had testified that she was raped by Stronach at his Toronto Harbourfront condo.

On Tuesday, Molloy raised concerns about the complainant's testimony during Crown prosecutor Jelena Vlacic's closing submission.

Stronach's lawyer Leora Shemesh, during her closing submission, had said the complainant's testimony was full of inconsistencies and contradictions, and that her narrative of events and details had changed throughout the years.

This included, Shemesh said, the woman saying the date of the alleged attack occurred in 1980 on her 21st birthday, but then conceding, upon learning the defence could prove Stronach was out of the country at the time, that it could have happened at a different time.

The Canadian billionaire sex assault trial, explained

Vlacic attempted to downplay the date inconsistencies, arguing the woman had never been firm on the date of the alleged sexual assault.

But that prompted Molloy to interject that indeed, the complainant had been very firm that the alleged assault had occurred on her 21st birthday.

Molloy also questioned some other details the complainant had given that defence witnesses had contradicted — that the woman said she had worked grooming horses at stables that Stronach owned, and that she had worked on his prized horse.

Molloy said she didn't believe the woman was necessarily lying in court but that the inconsistencies and added details throughout the years caused her concern about the overall reliability of her evidence.

When his trial began in February, the 93-year-old founder of auto-parts giant Magna International faced 12 counts related to seven female complainants, whose allegations included sexual assault and the historical charges of rape and attempted rape.

But throughout the trial, the Crown subsequently withdrew five of those charges. With Molloy's ruling about the first complainant, Stronach now faces five counts related to three female complainants.

The ruling comes as the Crown is continues its closing submissions. Vlacic is focusing on the testimony of the fourth remaining complainant to testify at the trial.

On Wednesday, court heard closing arguments from Vlacic and Shemesh, the latter of whom argued over the credibility of the complainants.

Shemesh argued that the women who testified they were sexually assaulted by Stronach all failed "quite miserably" on credibility and reliability, meaning the court should find her client not guilty.

Shemesh said the overall sexual assault case against her Stronach had been built on "fabricated, disingenuous and unreliable evidence" and plagued by a "reckless investigation by police."

But Vlacic fired back that the women's allegations were solid and believable.

The allegations against Stronach date back almost 50 years, spanning the period between 1977 and 1990. Two of the counts, rape and attempted rape, were considered historical charges, as they were abolished when the Criminal Code was amended in 1983 to create the offence of sexual assault.

All of the initial seven complainants testified in court, offering an emotional account of the sexual offences they say they experienced at the hands of Stronach.

Stronach, who was in court every day but never took the witness box in his own defence, has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Many of the women told similar stories — meeting Stronach at Rooney's, the Toronto restaurant he used to own, and then accepting an invitation back to his Harbourfront condo. It's there that they allege he sexually assaulted them.

Two of the seven complainants alleged they were attacked in other locations — one woman claimed Stronach raped her in a hotel, while another said he attempted to rape her in a midtown Toronto apartment.

Senior Reporter

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