Canadian designer Peter Nygard lured victims into bedroom suite with handleless doors: prosecutors
Canadian designer Peter Nygard lured women into the bedroom suite — which had doors without handles — at his Toronto headquarters before forcing himself on several of them, prosecutors alleged.
Nygard, 82, has been accused of using his wealth, assets, and status to convince four women and one minor into his top-floor bedroom suite under the false pretense that they were there to receive interviews or tours, prosecutors said during the trial Tuesday.
He allegedly sexually assaulted the women at different times and sometimes trapped and intoxicated them.
“Within these walls, behind all the trappings of success and power, there is a bedroom suite with a giant bed, a stone jacuzzi, a bar, and doors — doors with no handle, doors with automatic, keypad-operated locks controlled by Peter Nygard,” Assistant Prosecution Attorney Ana Serban said during opening arguments.
The disgraced fashion mogul has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement in alleged incidents dating back to the 1980s, ’90s and mid-2000s.
In one incident, the women’s fashion designer is accused of meeting a woman in her 20s on a flight to the Bahamas, where he wooed her and invited her to his estate on the island. She declined the offer, but after recognizing him later on, she called him and was invited to the Toronto headquarters, where she was invited for a job interview.
“It ends in his top-floor bedroom suite. She grows uncomfortable, she tries to leave. He tackles her onto the bed, puts his full body into it, pins her down on her back and tries to undress her, rips her clothing,” Serban said, painting the picture of the frightening assault.
Nygard allegedly digitally penetrated the woman and ripped her shirt with his teeth. The assault only stopped after he was informed over the intercom system that his next appointment had arrived, the crown prosecutor alleged.
Another woman allegedly went to a Rolling Stones concert with the fashion man. Afterward, she was brought up to his bedroom suite and was told to make him a sandwich. After she made him the meal, he allegedly screamed at her for being a tease and not going along with his advances, the court heard, according to CBC.
After another attempt to leave failed and the designer pinned her to bed, she allegedly told him to “at least put a f–king condom on.”
Nygard allegedly gave her $100 after the assault.
In a separate instance, another woman also allegedly asked him to wear a condom.
A 16-year-old girl, the youngest victim, was allegedly raped by Nygard in front of others. Prosecutors accused an unidentified woman of giving the juvenile emergency contraceptive pills after the assault.
Another alleged victim, April Telek, told CBC News in June that she was raped by Nygard after he held her captive while she was there for a modeling job in 1993.
Police opened an investigation into Nygard in June 2020 and later submitted eight cases to Manitoba prosecutors, who did not pursue criminal charges against him.
The case was then given to the Saskatchewan justice agency for an independent review in December 2020, the outlet reported.
The Nygard International owner is set to be extradited to the US for nine other sex crime charges after his trial in Canada is complete.
He was arrested for allegations in New York in 2020 in Winnipeg under the Extradition Act.
In addition, the Canadian has been accused of luring at least 10 women to his home in the Bahamas with promises of cash payments and lucrative modeling opportunities.
However, the women were allegedly plied with booze and drugs and then violently assaulted, a complaint read.
One of his alleged victims included a 15-year-old girl, whom Nygard allegedly tried to sodomize before raping her and asking her to defecate in his mouth before offering her money.
He also faces one count of sexual assault and forcible confinement in Quebec for a crime that allegedly took place between November 1997 and November 1998, according to CBC.
With Post wires
