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82-year-old fashion designer faces six charges of sexual assault and false imprisonment in Toronto.

Peter Nygard accused of rape of a woman during an interview.

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Peter Nygard on an unspecified date in front of his former 45,720 square meter residence in the Bahamas.

  • Jean-Philippe Nadeau (View profile)Jean-Philippe Nadeau

The fourth plaintiff in Peter Nygard's trial accuses him of “ripping off her shirt” and raping her in the summer of 1988 during an interview for a job at his company. fashion. The woman, now 61, cannot be identified.

WARNING: This article may shock some people readers.

She is one of five Torontonians who accuse the 82-year-old Finnish-Canadian of sexual assault. The plaintiffs were aged 16 to 28 at the time of the alleged events, between 1986 and 2005.

The sixty-year-old claims she met Peter Nygard on a plane in March 1988, while vacationing in the Bahamas with a friend. Then aged 26, the woman worked as a project manager in an IT company.

She explains that Peter Nygard, whom she did not know, accosted her in the aisle of the aircraft when she returned from the cockpit to take photos.

The complainant points out that the designer asked her if she was a professional photographer or model, when she answered in the negative to his first question , then to the second.

She declined a first job offer from Peter Nygard, who subsequently offered to triple her salary by offering her $80,000 per year for a management position in his company.

She explains that she refused his proposal again out of politeness. It was too good to be true, she said.

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The former private island Nygard Key in the Bahamas.

Peter Nygard then gives her several private telephone numbers and suggests that she use his residence in the Bahamas in his absence and that his staff will take care of them.

I couldn't believe it, who would be so generous with strangers?, she asks herself. The woman explains that the idea of ​​going to see the residence crossed her mind and that of her friend, but that they did not go.

He had made me uncomfortable and I wanted to see the Bahamas anyway for its people and its colors, she remembers.

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Peter Nygard's former property on his private island in the West Indies on an unspecified date·.

Back in Toronto 15 days later, she saw Peter Nygard on television and immediately called her friend. I realized he had told me the truth about himself, the woman recalls. Her friend then suggested that she call her at work.

The woman contacted him a few days later for an interview, but the tycoon was preparing to leave for Finland for his parents' wedding anniversary. He even offered to accompany him, she said.

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Peter Nygard's former headquarters in downtown Toronto with the private apartments on the fifth floor.

The two people agreed to a date at the designer's fashion studio on Niagara Street in Toronto upon his return from Europe in the summer of 1988. He made me go around the owner into his private suite, she remembers.

She specifies that Peter Nygard then grabbed her by the pussy and threw her onto the bed.

It happened very quickly, he tore off my shirt, lifted my skirt and removed my underwear before painfully penetrating me with his hand.

A quote from Complainant No. 4

She claims that the rape was very short, because it was interrupted by her receptionist who announced an appointment to her over the intercom . He then got up and told me that I was lucky, she continues.

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Peter Nygard's bedroom on the 5th floor of his Toronto fashion studio, where Complainant No. 4 says she was raped in 1988.

The woman points out that Peter Nygard gave her a shirt to replace hers and that she left the scene. I called my mom and my boyfriend from my car to let them know, she said.

She admits that she waited 32 years before alerting the police in 2020, because her mother told her to forget everything, because the police always believe wealthy men over poor women. p>

The woman denied having seduced Peter Nygard to get a job as the defense suggests.

She admits that Peter Nygard was a handsome man when she first saw him on the plane and that he was attractive for a man of his age. She says she believed he had to be at least 55 years old (he was 47, Editor's note).

The defense leaves hear that the complainant ridiculed her client when he offered her a job in his company. The complainant explains that she was only laughing, because the offer was too good to be true.

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Peter Nygard's lawyer Brian Greenspan enters the Toronto courthouse on September 26, 2023, the first day of the trial.

The defense also led her to say that she had indeed accepted flowers from Peter Nygard before the interview at the workshop, the day they first spoke on the phone. .

I called her to apologize for not believing him on the plane, she admits .

The defense even suggested to her that her client had given her several items of clothing after the rape, which the defense compares more to a consensual sexual relationship, but the complainant categorically rejects the remarks.

I only took a pink blouse from a clothes rack on wheels that he had taken from the hallway, because my shirt was torn

A quote from Complainant No. 4

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Peter Nygard leaves the Toronto courthouse after the first day of hearings at his trial.

The defense further accuses her of failing to tell police that Peter Nygard had never penetrated her with his penis. I didn't know that digital penetration was the same thing as penile penetration, she replies.

The woman has finally admitted that she is indeed part of a class action by several women against the fashion designer in the United States. She nevertheless rejects the defense's allegations which suggest that it was a therapist employed by this firm who convinced her to file a complaint with the Toronto police.

I made the decision myself, she concluded.

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Teilor Stone

By Teilor Stone

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