The defense ended the cross-examination of the first complainant in the Peter Nygard trial on Thursday by accusing the woman of contradicting herself in her statements and x27;have a poor memory regarding his allegations.
The complainant accuses the 82-year-old man of raping her in 1989 in his former fashion workshop.
Peter Nygard, who grew up in Manitoba, is accused of raping five Toronto women from 1986 to 2005 while he was at the height of his international career.
The complainant, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, was a 28-year-old actress at the time of the alleged facts. She is now 62 years old.
Disclaimer< strong>: this text could shock some readers.
She explained this week the circumstances in which Peter Nygard l' had raped her in the private suite of her fashion atelier on Niagara Street in downtown Toronto after a concert on December 3, 1989.
Thursday, on the third and final day of her testimony, the woman broke down on the witness stand. Pushed to the limit, she repeats that the suite had a secret door hidden in the wall and that she was Peter Nygard's prisoner.
The woman remembers that he was angry and that he was no longer the same man. She specifies that she gave up when he grabbed her after running after her in the room before throwing her on the bed.
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Plaintiff No. 1 had to interrupt herself several times on Thursday to overcome her emotions in front of the jury.
He was straddling my legs and he started to take off my clothes, she said with tears in her eyes.
I sworely ordered him to put on a condom, when he gave me a condom. slammed me onto the bed while removing my clothes.
A quote from Complainant no. 1
She adds that she had noticed that Peter Nygard had around fifty boxes of condoms in the bedroom closet when he got up to go get one.
The complainant explains to the defense that she reluctantly agreed to go up to his house for a drink after the Rolling Stones show at which he had her invited.
Having a drink does not necessarily mean consuming alcohol, it could be tea, coffee… but he was playful and seductive, she emphasizes.
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Peter Nygard listens to Complainant No. 1 on his screen in front of him; the women accusing him were aged 16 to 28 at the time.
The complainant claims that Peter Nygard told her to stop crying after the alleged assault and that he denied having raped her, contrary to what she told him while getting dressed.
The defense then returned to the premonition that the complainant said she experienced in the garage of the building before going up to the suite.
The 60-year-old testified Tuesday that the idea of being raped briefly crossed her mind when she arrived at the workshop after the concert, but that she agreed to go have a drink out of politeness.
Thursday, the complainant repeated that the idea of being raped crossed her mind that night. Defense lawyer Brian Greenspan then calls her clairvoyant, mocking her in front of the jury.
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Complainant No. 1 explains to the jury how she says she was sexually assaulted at Peter Nygard's house in 1989.< /p>
The woman replies that the stakes were too high for Peter Nygard and that he would not jeopardize his notoriety.
However, I told myself that he would never dare compromise his fashion career, his reputation, nor his friendship with Brian Mulroney and the members of his government
A quote from Complainant no. 1
Mr. Greenspan also noted many contradictions in the woman's testimony during the Crown's interrogation, in her responses to the defense and in her police statement in September 1998, nine years after the alleged events.
On Tuesday, the complainant said, for example, that the Stones concert was late in the evening, that it was cold, but that it was not was not snowing.
However, according to the defense, the concert started early, at 6:30 p.m., and it was snowing and very cold, as shown in a report meteorological.
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Attorney Brian Greenspan sent plaintiff No. 1 to her limits at the end of the counter- interrogation.
The complainant also explained to the police that she no longer remembered whether the door to the suite in the workshop had a handle. But she now says she didn't have one.
She then said she spoke to the security guard when Peter Nygard called a taxi home after the alleged rape.
She further testified in cross-examination that x27;she had instead confided to him that [her] boss was not nice.
However, she declared to the Crown on Tuesday that she had told the guard that she had just been raped and that her employer was a aggressor. However, she no longer remembers very well what she told the police on this subject.
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Prosecutor Neville Golwalla questions complainant No. 1 on Tuesday, showing her vintage photos in front of Peter Nygard and lawyer Brian Greenspan to his left .
Finally, she failed to tell the police that Peter Nygard had many boxes of condoms at his home. However, she told the Crown that the boxes were in the bathroom and, to the defence, that they were stored in a cupboard opposite the bed.
Your memory nine years after the fact is worse than 40 years later, Mr. Greenspan told him ironically.
It's true that you have a better memory as you get older, he told her at another point in his attacks.
When asked about her decision not to report Peter Nygard on the evening of the alleged rape, she replied that she was afraid and worried about her young acting career, which was taking off thanks to numerous dubbing contracts.
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Prosecutor Neville Golwalla questions Complainant No. 1 again after defense cross-examination. his jacket at Peter Nygard's after the alleged attack. She unsuccessfully called the designer the next day, leaving him a message. She assures that her assistant called her back to tell her that she had picked it up.
She asked me if I was ok, because she suspected what had happened to meA quote from Complainant no. 1
She explains that Peter Nygard called her a few months later, but she told him never to come in again in contact with her.
The defense finally suggested that the complainant was only interested in her client for his money, but that she was disappointed because he met neither her tastes nor her expectations. .
I might have considered the idea of seeing him intimately, if he had been more courteous what if he had shown a little interest in me, she said.
In its right of reply, the Crown set the record straight regarding the complainant's statements over the past 25 years about what happened to her.
I was in survival mode, she concludes, emphasizing that reading and psychotherapy in California had allowed her to understand this kind of defensive behavior in victims.
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
