Judge declares mistrial in businessman Frank Stronach's sexual assault conviction

Judge declares mistrial in businessman Frank Stronach's sexual assault conviction

Stronach was convicted of sexual assault and 1 other charge in an Ontario court last month

Frank Stronach has been granted a mistrial on his sexual assault conviction, a rare post-verdict ruling that leaves the billionaire businessman to face a single remaining conviction out of a dozen initial charges.

The 93-year-old was found guilty last month of sexual assault and the historical offence of indecent assault related to separate allegations brought by two of the women in his trial.

The mistrial on the sexual assault conviction was granted by a judge on Friday after emails were presented in court from the woman's lawyer in a separate civil complaint, said Stronach's lawyer Leora Shemesh.

Shemesh alleged those emails told a story inconsistent with the woman's testimony in the criminal trial. She called the decision to declare a mistrial after a conviction "incredibly rare."

The court did not hear from the woman before the mistrial was declared, Shemesh said.

The Ministry of the Attorney General confirmed the mistrial but did not provide details.

Mistrial connected to alleged assault in early 1980s

Stronach initially faced a dozen charges stemming from allegations between the late 1970s and 1990s and involving seven complainants. His trial started in February but by the time arguments wrapped in April, prosecutors had withdrawn one charge and agreed Stronach should be found not guilty on four more.

That left Stronach with five charges related to three complainants before he was convicted on two of the counts. He is set to be sentenced on the indecent assault conviction in September.

The mistrial related to Stronach's alleged sexual assault of a woman in the early 1980s. The woman testified she had dinner with Stronach at Rooney's, the restaurant he owned at the time, and was invited to see his condo. When she tried to leave, she said Stronach groped her, running his hands up and down her body, touching her breasts and hips.

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The woman said she was later offered a job at Magna International, the company Stronach founded in the 1950s. She worked at the company for several years but didn't work directly with Stronach, she said.

In her June ruling, Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy said she was convinced Stronach had groped the woman briefly, but without her consent, calling the woman a compelling and believable witness.

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The indecent assault conviction stemmed from an incident in 1977. Stronach had dinner with the woman at Rooney's and invited her to his apartment, she said.

Once inside, he disappeared for a few minutes, then the woman felt a push that put her over an armchair, she testified. Stronach lifted up her skirt and she could feel his erect penis against her underwear like he was trying to penetrate them, though she did not know if he had taken his clothes off, she said.

Since the incident took place in 1977, Stronach was found guilty of the charge of indecent assault, which existed at the time but was folded into the charge of sexual assault when it was created in 1983.