Former auto parts magnate Frank Stronach will face two separate criminal trials for a total of 18 alleged offences against 13 victims.
Mr. Stronach’s case will return to court on Nov. 25 and 29, Justice of the Peace Mangesh Duggal of the Ontario Court of Justice ruled on Friday. The dates of the trials have not been set.
Peel Regional Police charged Mr. Stronach, 92, in the summer with crimes that include rape, sexual assault and forcible confinement, alleged offences that date between 1977 and 2024. The identities of the complainants are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
The charges have not been proven in court, and Mr. Stronach’s lawyer, Leora Shemesh, has said he will fight them. In a court appearance on Monday , Ms. Shemesh said she and the Crown prosecutors’ office agreed in pretrial discussions to separate the charges by the region in which they are alleged to have taken place, Toronto and York Region. She said the trials will be before judges in the Ontario Court of Justice, which does not have juries.
“The matter is being transferred out” of Peel Region, Crown Attorney Jelena Vlacic said in court on Friday. “There will be two proceedings.”
Peel Police have declined to say why they – and not their counterparts in Toronto and York Region – led the investigation into Mr. Stronach. The trials are being moved in light of the large caseload at the Brampton courthouse, as well as in accordance with the legal principle that a person be tried in the area in which they are accused.
According to allegations in court documents, 13 offences against eight complainants took place in Toronto. Five offences involving five victims allegedly happened in York Region, which is north of Toronto and home to Mr. Stronach and many of his interests, including the auto parts company he founded in the 1950s.
Christopher Hicks, a veteran Toronto criminal lawyer, said the large number of alleged offences would make a single trial difficult to run. “I think it would be unwieldy to do all these charges together,” Mr. Hicks said. “The evidence on one count, it can only go to that count and not any other counts.”
Criminal lawyer David Butt, who is not connected to the case, said there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault. This accounts for the serious nature of the offence and, he said, the length of time it can take for complainants to come forward.