In Toronto, the fifth and final complainant who accuses Peter Nygard of assaulting her in 1988 claims she became suicidal after meeting the designer. She testifies at the trial of the fashion designer assisted by a therapy dog, because she suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
She is a tormented woman who testifies to her meeting with Peter Nygard. The complainant, who cannot be named, was 21 years old at the time of the alleged facts.
She was working at the time as a host on a children's television show in addition to having her own clothing collection for teenage girls. I was already an entrepreneur at heart, she says.
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She explains that she met Peter Nygard at the famous Chez Henri club in Gatineau in 1987. He was then accompanied by the famous model Monika Schnarre. It was weird seeing him with a minor, she said.
The woman, now 56, adds that they exchanged a few words and that she gave him her phone number, telling him that she still lived with her parents.
She claims that she then left for Los Angeles in the winter of 1988 for work and that her mother called her at the hotel to tell her that Peter Nygard had her contacted in his absence in Ottawa.
She told me that he found me pretty and that I was pretty. he wanted to help me in my career, she remembers saying that her mother gave her the private number that Peter Nygard had left for her.
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Peter Nygard, bottom left, listens to Complainant No. 5 testify about the rape she says she experienced in March 1988.
I was on guard and very surprised, because he told me on the phone that he was going to change my return flight so that I could meet him in Toronto, she continues. calling his proposal strange.
She admits that she accepted his offer, because he had told her that #x27;he would put her up at a hotel before her flight to Ottawa the day after tomorrow.
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Peter Nygard, left, seated next to his lawyer Brian Greenspan, is accused of assault from 1986 to 2005 five women, including a minor, in his former Toronto studio.
The complainant explained to the Crown that she wanted to see him again the next day after work, because she wanted to ask him to create a children's collection.
The man and woman first meet in a bar, but the conversation has nothing to do with the fashion. He had ordered oysters, he told me it was an aphrodisiac and compared them to vaginas in the mouth, she remembers.
The complainant adds that she was very uncomfortable by his comments and that he asked her very indiscreet questions about her love life.
Don't tell me you're still a virgin, he would have told her out of the blue. I only responded to him out of politeness and evasively, she says.
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Peter Nygard sometimes listens to complainant No. 5 on his screen in front of him under the gaze of Justice Robert Goldstein of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice .
She specifies that they then went to her nearby workshop to talk business and that she saw a security guard at the entrance.
Peter Nygard showed me around the showrooms, up to his private suite. She said she was very excited, because she could finally talk to him about fashion.
She nevertheless remains suspicious, especially when going up to the suite. We came to a wall and Peter Nygard manipulated something on the wall, like a thermostat, she said.
She adds that the wall opened into a bedroom. There were leopard skins on the bed, she continues.
She explains that the suite was hidden, that the lights were subdued and that x27;it looked like a sordid dungeon for sex games.
I was very apprehensive, because I saw that this room was used for sexual activities, there were even two red leather skirts hanging above the bathtub.
A quote from the Complainant No. 5
The complainant points out that she sat on the bed, due to lack of a chair, with the glass that she had. he had offered it to her. She specifies that he showed her on televisions interviews that he had given to different media.
He had a very big ego, she says.
She maintains that he then suddenly threw himself on her while the television was broadcasting a pornographic film. She adds that he was angry because she kept struggling.
He then told me that my mother would not be happy to know that I was such a bad girl, she said crying tragically.
He was very strong, he took off my pants and he first tried to raping me anally without much success, before turning around to rape me vaginally.
A quote from Complainant No. 5
She claims that she shouted at him to stop around fifty times but that he refused to listen to her. He told me that other young women cooperated more easily than me, she says.
In detailing the violence of the attack, she describes him at one point as an ogre, because he x27; started to roar.
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Renowned Toronto lawyer Brian Greenspan is expected to begin cross-examining Complainant No. 5 on Tuesday.
The woman adds that she ordered her to put on a condom because she was afraid of AIDS and he then went to the bathroom for a minute.
She specifies that she could not escape, because the door had no handle. I was her prisoner, she says.
She explains that at one point she stopped struggling and that ;she was in shock. I was defeated, I had lost the battle, she continues.
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Complainant No. 5 explains to the jury that she suffers in particular from anxiety and that she sometimes mixes up dates or places.
She underlines that Peter Nygard refused to let her go, because he wanted to start again in two hours after he regained his strength.
She concludes that he finally opened the door by activating a button on the bedside table, because he couldn't stand hearing her complain anymore.
Leaving, the woman explains that she returned to the hotel and returned to Ottawa the next day . I told my mother what had happened to me, she said.
She points out, however, that her mother advised her not to tell the police, because rich men have lawyers and they are very powerful.
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From left: Peter Nygard, his lawyers and prosecutor Ana Serban addressing the jury at the lectern on the first day of the trial on September 26, 2023. /p>
She explains that she saw Peter Nygard again on August 2, 2003 at Hugh Hefner's residence in California while she was working as a designer of pumps and slippers for the Playboy company. >.
She claims she confronted him, reminding him that he had raped her 15 years earlier in Toronto. After denying it, he showed sympathy by shedding tears and admitting he had done wrong, she recalls.
The complainant then admitted to him that she had been psychologically damaged by his fault before leaving the scene.
She admits that she attempted to take her own life on June 16, 2021, but that the discovery of the painting made her saved his life.
Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116
