Disgraced Canadian fashion executive Peter Nygard was found guilty on Sunday of sexually assaulting four women in a secret bedroom inside his Canadian office.
Nygard, 82, who wore a black parka in court, showed no emotion as a jury convicted him of four counts of sexual assault in a sick attack on victims as young as 16 over a period of more than two decades in Toronto, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The creepy designer, who still faces criminal and civil charges in New York and elsewhere in Canada, was convicted largely on the testimony of his accusers at the six-week trial, the report said.
“This is a crime that usually takes place in private and deeply affects human dignity,” prosecutor Neville Golwalla said after the verdict.
“To stand up and tell that insult in a public forum like a courtroom is never easy and takes great courage,” Golwalla said. “Everybody who comes out here is to be commended.”
Nygard was acquitted of a fifth count of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement.
Five other charges of sexual assault were dismissed before five days of jury deliberations that ended with Sunday’s verdict.
Former Canadian fashion designer Peter Nygard was found guilty of four counts of sexual assault in Toronto on Sunday. He still faces criminal charges and a class action lawsuit in New York. Jaakko Avikainen/Shutterstock Nygard, 82, spent five days on the witness stand at his six-week sexual assault trial in Toronto. But so did his accusers, and on Sunday a jury found him guilty of four counts of sexual assault.AP
Nygard is accused of using his wealth and influence to lure his victims to an upstairs bedroom complex, where he cornered them and sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said.
The teenage victim claimed she was raped in front of others, while another accuser said Nygard paid her $100.
During the trial, two of the accusers testified that the designer gave them a tour of his office that ended in his bedroom suite, and described a mirror door leading into the room.
Once inside, they found there was no handle on the door so they couldn’t get out.
The businessman, who spent five days on the witness stand during the trial, denied the allegations and claimed he had no recollection of four of the five women he allegedly sexually assaulted.
Crown attorney Neville Golwalla, left, the prosecutor in the sexual assault case against former fashion mogul Peter Nygard, said the victim’s testimony was key. “Everyone who came here deserves praise,” he said. AFP via Getty Images
His lawyer, Brian Greenspan, claimed the prosecution’s case was riddled with “fatal flaws,” and questioned the credibility of his client’s accusers.
“What never happened was the sexual assault described by each complainant,” he told jurors.
The jury disagreed.
“It’s not an easy case,” Golwalla told reporters outside court.
“To hear the jury’s decision is to understand that they worked hard to reach that decision,” he said. “And certainly we feel that a fair verdict is what the jury gave in the end.”
The ruling is just the beginning of legal challenges facing the controversial clothing designer, who also faces charges of sexual assault and forced confinement in Manitoba and Quebec.
Peter Nygard’s son, Kai Nygard, said after his father’s sex-offense conviction in Toronto on Sunday that he “has a different version” of him in the past. But, he added, “Something sinister there. There’s something perverse.”AFP via Getty Images Nygard still faces sexual assault charges in Manitoba and Quebec, and criminal and civil cases in New York City following his criminal conviction in Toronto on Sunday .AFP via Getty Images
He is also fighting extradition to the US, where he faces charges in the Big Apple that include sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit racketeering and transportation of minors for the purpose of prostitution.
In addition, Nygard is also named in a New York class action lawsuit filed on behalf of 57 women who claim they were molested as far back as 1977 — some when they were just 14 and 15 years old.
Outside court Sunday, the designer’s son, Kai Nygard, who had previously spoken out against his father, reflected on the verdict.
“I love my father,” he told reporters. “It hurts my heart to see all these things. I know a different man. I got a different version of him and for me, the bond was real, the moments were real.
“Something evil there,” he added. “There’s something wrong.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
