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WARNING: This story references sexual assault allegations and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
The second of seven women complainants is testifying in the sexual assault trial of Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach.
All seven women are expected to take the witness box in the judge-alone trial being overseen by Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy.
Last week, the trial began with testimony from one of the complainants who told court that Stronach had sexually assaulted her on a dance floor, in a booth and at at Toronto condo back in 1981.
She testified that she had lost sense of time during the evening and at one point had woken up lying on her back in a bed in the condo. She told court she saw her face in a dimly lit mirror above her, and realized she was “being raped” by Stronach.
But Stronach’s lawyer Leora Shemesh accused the woman of being a “storyteller” and challenged the woman’s memory of the events relating to the alleged attack. She zeroed in on what she suggested were inconsistencies in what the woman had told court and previous statements she had made.
Stronach, 93, faces a total of 12 charges, including sexual assault and forcible confinement. Two of the counts, rape and attempted rape, are considered historical charges as they were abolished when the Criminal Code was amended in 1983 to create the offence of sexual assault.
The allegations by the seven women in Toronto span the period between 1977 and 1990, with one specified as having happened in suburban Scarborough.
Stronach is also set to face a separate trial in Newmarket, Ont., later this year after the case was split into two proceedings.