In the trial of Peter Nygard in Toronto, the defense called its first witness on Tuesday afternoon. He contradicted the allegations made by complainant No. 3. The 82-year-old Canadian fashion designer is accused of sexually abusing five women, including a teenager, in his former workshop in the city center from 1986 to 2005.
Before Peter Nygard’s defense calls its first witness, it presents its case to the jury.
WARNING : This article may shock some readers
Lawyer Brian Greenspan ridicules the Crown’s indictment from the start, which began its opening arguments by saying the defendant’s fashion empire, money and power made him believe he was entitled to everything.
“The Crown’s theory is to make you believe that my client is a sexual predator and megalomaniac operating out of a secret room in his workshop,” he said.
Mr. Greenspan accuses prosecutors of making innuendos and exaggerating their descriptions to paint a terrible picture of the defendant.
Peter Nygard will testify at his trial
The lawyer adds that the defense will have the opportunity to refute the complainant’s allegations and tell the truth about his client’s personal and professional life.
He reminded the jury that his client was not legally required to testify but would do so on Wednesday. “My client has decided to waive his privilege of silence,” he explains.
He will tell you that the private suite in his studio is not a secret landmark, but rather a space that reflects his Finnish roots, he continues.
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Peter Nygard, his lawyers and prosecutor Ana Serban at the lectern before Judge Goldstein of the Ontario Superior Court during the Crown’s closing arguments.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Pam Davies
Throughout this trial, the Crown maintained that the private suite that Peter Nygard had set up on the top floor of his studio was a bedroom hidden behind a wall with doors without handles.
Mr. Greenspan also adds that his client was also too busy with his business to remember all the interactions he had with women in the fashion world more than 20 years ago.
“My client is a workaholic, so he cannot remember every event in his life,” he says.
The defense also claims that, contrary to their claims, Peter Nygard never met four of the five complainants.
Statement from a first anonymous witness
Me Greenspan therefore attacks the testimony of the only one of them whom his client knows by calling to the witness stand an ex-girlfriend of the defendant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
The woman claims that she met Peter Nygard at a business lunch in Los Angeles, possibly in 1993, but probably in 1994.
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Peter Nygard and his lead attorney Brian Greenspan.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Pam Davies
She adds that she began a close relationship with Peter Nygard nine to 12 months later before eventually moving in with him.
“We separated in 1997 because I wanted to focus on my career and be closer to my children,” she explains.
The woman, who is around fifty, admits that she continued to live with him in California after the separation.
She admits that when they were still together, she also lived in Mr. Nygard’s studio in Toronto to attend fashion shows.
She more or less remembers the layout of the suite. “I don’t know if you needed a code or a magnetic key to get in,” she said.
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Attorney Brian Greenspan interviews his first witness, an ex-girlfriend of Peter Nygard, over Zoom.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Pam Davies
She claims that she was still dating Peter Nygard when she met Appellant No. 3, before meeting her several times a year thereafter at her residence in the Bahamas.
“Yes, I remember seeing her for the first time in 1995 or 1996 at an airport in Florida and later in the Bahamas,” explains the woman testifying from California.
Complainant No. 3 said last week that the woman in question was in the room with other guests on the night she was allegedly attacked.
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Mr. Greenspan is cross-examining Complainant No. 5, who accuses Peter Nygard of raping her during a 1996 Toronto garage orgy.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Pam Davies
However, the defense witness categorically denied that she ever met plaintiff No. 3 at a fashion show, a private party or an orgy in the company of Peter Nygard.
She added that she had never experienced the accused having sexual relations with complainant No. 3 alone or in the presence of several guests.
The woman concludes the defense’s questioning by saying that the defendant’s penis is of average size, which contradicts previous statements that Peter Nygard has a child’s penis.
Crown cross-examination
Prosecutor Neville Golwalla initially had the woman say that she had already witnessed several orgies in Peter Nygard’s house, but without specifying that she had taken part.
However, the woman does not recall noticing whether the rest of the workshop had a condom dispenser, as the Crown suggests.
She also can’t remember how she got into the room. It’s possible the door had handles, but I don’t know if it was sliding, she states.
However, she still remembers the glass shower in the room with a view of the city center.
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Defense attorney Brian Greenspan (below right) questions Plaintiff #3 on October 11, 2023.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Alexandra Newbould
Complainant No. 3 had said she saw the woman naked in the shower with another man when Peter Nygard allegedly attacked her on the bed.
The witness added that Peter Nygard never drugged anyone, according to a newspaper article published in February 2020 that she was aware of at the time.
However, she cannot confirm to the Crown that she actually did not know what Peter Nygard was doing in her absence. I always trusted him, she says.
The mention in this article relates to a statement made by complainant No. 3, who said she fainted after pouring herself two glasses of alcohol when she realized there were people around her on the night of her alleged attack moved out.
Peter Nygard never drugged his guests and he never took drugs, said the defense witness.
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Peter Nygard listens to the jury selection process before his trial begins on September 26, 2023.
Photo: (Alexandra Newbould/The Canadian Press)
Nevertheless, the woman admits that Peter Nygard offered his loved ones money to stop smoking.
She half-heartedly admits that after the separation she stayed in the defendant’s apartment in California without paying rent. Peter offered me to stay overnight in one of the residence’s 10 suites, she confirms.
Then Me Golwalla attacks her for refusing to explain whether her relationship with the defendant was exclusive.
“We were honest with each other, but I don’t know if we discussed his desire to see other women,” she says.
“I thought we were exclusive, yes,” she adds, after asking the Crown three times to ask the question differently.
“I thought I was his girlfriend and not one of his girlfriends,” she concluded.