Peter Nygard is guilty of raping four women. That's the conclusion a Toronto jury reached Sunday.
The fallen Canadian fashion mogul was found guilty on Sunday of four of six charges following his trial. He was acquitted of two charges of forced confinement and the rape of complainant #3.
The 82-year-old Manitoban was accused of assaulting sexually assaulted five women, including a minor, in his former Toronto fashion studio from 1986 to 2005.
As he listened to the jury's verdict, Peter Nygard remained stoic alongside his lawyers. Jurors took just five days to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on four rape charges after a 25-day trial at the Toronto courthouse.
Peter Nygard, however, is acquitted of the rape of one of the five women and the forced confinement of victim no. 1.
After years of silence, the five victims filed a complaint with the Toronto police in 2021 thanks to the #MeToo movement. Their identity is protected by a publication ban.
This is a victory for the Crown, which had portrayed the accused as a powerful man who did not hesitate to lure young women, and even a minor, to rape them in his former headquarters in Toronto.
Outside the court, prosecutor Neville Golwalla told the press that he was satisfied and thanked the complainants for having the courage to testify against Peter Nygard. /p>Open in full screen mode
Crown prosecutor Neville Golwalla said he was satisfied with the result at his leaving court on Sunday.
Defense lawyer Brian Greenspan, on the other hand, was disappointed with the verdict, declaring that he was possibly considering an appeal.
He notably cited the judge's decision on the Crown's pre-trial motion regarding the admissibility of the evidence of similar facts in this case.
These facts relate to the allegations of four other women whose comments did not lead to additional criminal charges: three alleged victims and a fourth who claims to have been raped in the Bahamas and who therefore cannot file a complaint in Canada.
These can be presented in a trial to confirm a pattern in a defendant's behavior to prove that the criminal charges an individual is facing may be true. However, the existence of these four women was never mentioned to the jury.
These similar facts have a significant aspect in this type of trial since they can dictate the turn of the deliberations and therefore the nature of the verdict, explains Mr. Greenspan.
He added that he must first review the judge's instructions since that is the only way to understand the jury's verdict.
We must first assess whether the similar fact issue is relevant for an appeal to be warranted, he said.
Peter Nygard's son, Kai Nygard, who did not testify in this trial, said he was very satisfied with the verdict, he who has been at odds with his father for years.
He nevertheless said that this verdict is only the tip of the iceberg because his father assaulted many more women, according to him, at the #x27;outside Canada.
The majority of the rape allegations occurred in the Bahamas, he said, saying his father is a monster.
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Kai Nygard participated in a press briefing on Sunday.
He added that some bosses of the Nygard International company could not ignore what was happening in the designer's various workshops around the world. Some probably even played the role of facilitator with my father, he added.
Kai Nygard called the women who experienced his father to file a police report if they believe they have been assaulted in the past.
A civil suit has been filed by at least 85 women against Peter Nygard in the United States.
My father faces more criminal and civil charges than Epstein, Weinstein and Cosby combined, he continued.
This guilty verdict is a first victory, justice will be done, he nevertheless believes.
The prosecutors demonstrated during the trial that Peter Nygard had used the same modus operandifrom one victim to another by luring them to his former workshop under pretexts such as job interviews or guided tours of his headquarters.
They had notably explained in detail that the five women had been attacked in the same suite on the 5th floor of the building, which they had compared to a secret room in which it was impossible to get out because of a set of doors camouflaged behind mirrored walls.
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Peter Nygard's Finnish suite on the 5th floor of his former fashion atelier, located in downtown Toronto . (File photo)
The first complainant was a 26-year-old actress while Peter Nygard was 48. The rape occurred on December 3, 1989 after a Rolling Stones concert at SkyDome.
The second complainant was a 16-year-old girl while Peter Nygard was 63. The sexual assault occurred during a gang rape of three people on an unspecified date during winter 2004-2005.
The third complainant was a 24-year-old hostess, while Peter Nygard was 56. The complainant claimed that the attack was carried out in September 1997 during an orgy organized without her knowledge. even though the designer had asked her to work as a waitress. Nygard was acquitted of this charge.
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Peter Nygard's former headquarters in Toronto, with a private room on the fifth floor.
The fourth complainant was an IT project manager. She was 26, and Peter Nygard was 46. The rape occurred on an unspecified date in the summer of 1988 during a fake job interview at the fashion company.
The fifth plaintiff was a television presenter and young fashion designer. She was 21, and Peter Nygard was 47. The assault took place in late January or early February 1988.
When her testimony, she was accompanied by a therapy dog because of her stress and anxiety problems. She was the only one to have claimed to have been held against her will after the attack but the jury did not believe her on this subject.
Peter Nygard's lawyer, Brian Greenspan, tried to sow doubt in the minds of the jurors by showing that the plaintiffs had had holes from memory in their testimony and that some of them no longer remembered the exact date on which they say they were attacked.
He also noted inconsistencies in their statements, even contradictions between what they had said to the police and then during the trial.
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Brian Greenspan, Peter Nygard's attorney, enters the courthouse on September 26, 2023 for the start of hearings.
Mr. Greenspan had also stressed that Peter Nygard's suite in his former fashion workshop was not a secret lair from which it was impossible to escape.
The Crown had nevertheless anticipated the defense's approach by calling a psychologist so that the jury could understand the complexity of trauma to the human brain before having the five women testify.
< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">Dr. Lori Haskell also explained that traumatic events can affect the memory, judgment and reflexes of people who are victims.
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Clinical psychologist Lori Haskell was the first prosecution witness at Peter Nygard's trial.
Mr. Greenspan had attempted to undermine the credibility of the psychologist by making her admit that she was not a neurologist, that her expertise was contested by others. #x27;other scientists and that she did not know the complainants.
He had also called his client to testify at the bar for his self-defense because he had nothing to hide, he said.
Peter Nygard had claimed for six days that he only knew one of the complainants, that he could not have raped all four others and that he would never have acted in this way anyway even if he had known them.
L& #x27;Peter Nygard's sentencing hearing has been set for November 21. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.
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
