Ontario Superior Court Justice John Hamilton today acquitted beverage entrepreneur Frank D'Angelo of sexual assault after a one-day trial yesterday.

D'Angelo, who turns 50 this week, testified that while he did have sex with the now 22-year-old woman on June 3, 2007, in a hotel room, it was consensual and she initiated it.

The woman, who cannot be identified, said the former Steelback Brewery president forced her to have sexual intercourse after the two had lunch in a restaurant at the Holiday Inn near the Yorkdale shopping mall.

Hamilton said that while he found both witnesses credible and was “inclined” to believe both of them, the Crown had not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Yesterday in Ontario Superior Court, D'Angelo and his accuser testified as to their recollections about what happened in the Holiday Inn near Dufferin St. and Highway 401 on June 3, 2007.

The trial lasted about four hours and featured a bizarre array of references to hair pulling, baldness and age differences in sexual relations.

Both people testified they arranged to have lunch in the hotel restaurant to discuss her working at a summer car race that was sponsored by Steelback Brewery.

At the time, D'Angelo was president of the company.

The woman had had sporadic, non-romantic contact over the years with D'Angelo, whom she met through her father, a business associate.

She sometimes ate free at one of the businessman's restaurants and accepted a 46-inch flat screen television as a present.

D'Angelo testified he chose to meet at the hotel after booking a room there because the air conditioner at his 8,000-square-foot home in Forest Hill had stopped working.

The hotel was also near the rink where D'Angelo played hockey, he said.

Prosecutor Mary Misener, however, told court D'Angelo rented the room intending to lure the woman upstairs for sex.

D'Angelo repeatedly denied he was the aggressor.

He may have acted inappropriately in having sex with the young woman, he said, but said she initiated the encounter.

She "rolled over and kissed me," he said.

Defence lawyer Clewley said the young woman was looking for a rich boyfriend.

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"They had sex. She regretted it and here we are," Clewley said.

There's "not a stitch of evidence to corroborate her account, it's simply her word."

The woman insisted D'Angelo forced her to have sex.

"I was trying to stop him," she said.

She told court he removed her clothing, pulled her by her hair and demanded she say she was enjoying herself.

The encounter lasted about an hour, she said.

She was left with a bump on the back of her head, she said. After sex, D'Angelo took a shower and the two left the hotel room together, she told court.

He walked her to the parking lot and kissed her goodbye. "He said what happens between us stays between us," she testified.

She returned to her apartment and told her two girlfriends she had been raped by D'Angelo. The following day, she filed a complaint with police.

Clewley told Justice Hamilton, that, in their day, the age difference between D'Angelo and his accuser would have been significant but that is no longer the case.