Peter Nygard’s appeal of his sexual assault convictions and sentence is set to be heard Monday by the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto.
The Ontario Court of Appeal is set to hear Peter Nygard’s challenge Monday to his sexual assault convictions and prison sentence, opening a new stage in the former fashion mogul’s long-running criminal proceedings.
Nygard, 84, was convicted in 2023 of four counts of sexual assault and later sentenced to 11 years in prison. With credit for time already spent in custody before and during the trial, the sentence amounts to a little less than seven years behind bars.
The appeal will test whether errors at the Toronto trial were serious enough to affect the verdicts or sentence. Nygard is asking the court to set aside the convictions and order a new trial, reduce his sentence, or grant other relief the court considers appropriate.
His lawyers filed a notice of appeal in 2024 arguing, among other things, that the trial judge wrongly admitted evidence from clinical psychologist Lori Haskell about the effects of trauma. They also say the sentence was excessive and challenge the judge’s decision to allow jurors to consider evidence from one complainant when assessing whether the Crown had proven its case involving other complainants.
The Crown, in written submissions to the appeal court, argues the admission of Haskell’s testimony was a “harmless error” that did not mislead the jury or result in a miscarriage of justice.
The issue echoes an argument raised in Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard’s appeal of his 2022 sexual assault conviction, which also challenged Haskell’s testimony in part over the risk that a jury could misuse it. Hoggard’s conviction was upheld after an appeal panel found there had been no miscarriage of justice.
Nygard was denied bail in 2024. In that decision, the judge wrote that the Haskell testimony issue was, in her view, the only “legally plausible” argument raised in his appeal.
The convictions followed allegations from multiple women dating from the 1980s to the mid-2000s. Nygard founded his now-defunct global women’s clothing company in Winnipeg in 1967 and stepped down as chairman after FBI agents and police raided his New York offices in February 2020.
He has also faced criminal proceedings elsewhere. Charges in Manitoba were stayed after a judge found destroyed police interview records had breached his Charter right to a fair trial. Nygard’s lawyers have since filed a lawsuit against the Manitoba and Saskatchewan governments, Winnipeg police and others alleging defamation and abuse of process; those claims have not been tested in court. He also faces a trial on sex charges in Quebec and extradition to the United States on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has denied all allegations against him.
The Ontario appeal court’s decision will determine whether the Toronto convictions stand, whether a new trial is ordered or whether Nygard’s sentence is changed.
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