CAUTION: This article and its videos include picture content material that can be triggering for those who have skilled sexual violence or recognise someone suffering from it.
Disgraced clothing producer Peter Nygard won’t face fees in his hometown of Winnipeg, after a 10-month police research into allegations of sexual attack from 8 women, The 5Th Estate has learned.
in addition, an investigation by The 5Th Estate finds a development of Nygard avoiding prosecution following allegations of rape suggested to Winnipeg police over a few many years.
Winnipeg Police Leader Danny Smyth said in a press release that their latest research concerned running 15 files, interviewing 29 witnesses, together with survivors, and compiling greater than 1,600 files.
in the end, 8 instances were submitted to Manitoba’s Justice Ministry for attention. according to Smyth, prosecutors made up our minds to not lay fees in all of the cases.
The 5Th Property’s documentary, “Why no longer in Winnipeg?,” airs Thursday at NINE p.m. on CBC-TELEVISION and streams on CBC Gem.
“It Is like a slap within the face,” stated Nadine Moostoos, one among the ladies whose case used to be recently referred to Manitoba’s Justice Ministry for legal fees.
In 1993, she used to be 14 years vintage and living at the street while she mentioned Nygard picked her up and sexually assaulted her.
“That simply broke my middle, man,” she said, regarding the verdict to not press charges in her case. “It gave me no religion in the justice gadget.”
WATCH | Nadine Moostoos describes what she informed prosecutors once they declined her case:
Nadine Moostoos says she feels Manitoba’s justice system allow her down
Nadine Moostoos says she gave Winnipeg police enough knowledge to analyze her case. Even Though officers asked Manitoba prosecutors to consider laying charges, the legal professionals declined to prosecute. 1:36
Nygard, formerly the pinnacle of a multimillion-greenback apparel empire primarily based in Winnipeg, is in custody in Toronto where he faces six charges of sexual attack and three counts of illegal imprisonment.
Nygard additionally faces more than one charges of intercourse trafficking in New York City, where prosecutors mentioned in an indictment that, with help from his corporate, he drugged and sexually assaulted “a minimum of dozens of ladies and minor-elderly female sufferers” over 25 years. there may be an extradition proceeding underway in that case.
Outside one among the hearings, lawyer Brian Greenspan mentioned, “Mr. Nygard denies any allegation of prison conduct.”
WATCH | Peter Nygard is escorted into a van out of doors Pearson airport:
5TH ESTATE | Peter Nygard is escorted into custody at Pearson Airport
Peter Nygard, who’s dealing with a couple of sexual assault fees, is escorted into a van that took him to Toronto South Detention Centre earlier q4. Supply: World Information ZERO:10
In Winnipeg, alternatively, he is by no means been prosecuted for a intercourse crime.
‘We have been all the time tossed aside’
Four of the eight girls, whose money owed of sexual attack had been referred to Manitoba prosecutors by means of Winnipeg police, spoke to The Fifth Estate.
Serena Hickes used to be operating for Nygard in one in all his retail outlets in 1992, whilst she mentioned Nygard raped her. She said she used to be too afraid to go to the police at the time. As a tender Indigenous woman, she felt she would not be believed.
“We have been all the time tossed apart,” she mentioned.
“And I Might love for the police to come back and end up me unsuitable, but sorry, guys. … we are still no longer taken seriously, to nowadays.”
Serena Hickes is a social employee in Winnipeg. As a brand new mother in the 1990s, she was running at considered one of Nygard’s stores whilst she says the now-disgraced company founder sexually assaulted her. (Randall McKenzie/CBC)
April Telek was 20 whilst she was once invited to Winnipeg by Nygard for a modelling task in 1993. She mentioned Nygard held her captive and raped her.
When Telek was once knowledgeable no charges can be laid in her case, she said she was once “gutted through that news.”
April Telek is pictured outdoor her house in North Vancouver in 2020. Winnipeg police referred her case to Manitoba prosecutors, but the Crown declined to lay fees. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)
When Toronto police announced they could be charging Nygard in October, the Winnipeg girls stated they felt overwhelmed.
KC Allan met Nygard in a Winnipeg nightclub at age 17 in 1979. She mentioned Nygard raped her at his warehouse after he offered to present her a journey house.
“to be informed that the Toronto police and court device found six ladies in Toronto to be more credible and fee-worth than the eight Winnipeg victims is a shame,” Allan stated.
WATCH | KC Allan calls the lack of fees in Winnipeg ‘a shame’:
KC Allan describes hearing prosecutors declined to put fees
Former style KC Allan gave a statement to Winnipeg police remaining 12 months, however Manitoba prosecutors declined to price Peter Nygard. 1:ELEVEN
Winnipeg police declined an interview request. But in the statement to The 5Th Property, Smyth said it wasn’t his choice not to price Nygard.
“We acknowledge and respect the decisions made through justice officials … not to continue with criminal complaints.”
Manitoba’s Justice Ministry and its prosecution place of business declined to do an interview or provide a statement about its purposes for declining fees.
a familiar story
The Fifth Property investigation also uncovered new revelations approximately how Nygard have shyed away from prosecution in Winnipeg despite a couple of court cases to the police.
Nygard’s first identified brush with the law used to be in 1968, while Winnipeg police charged him with a sexual offence, The 5Th Estate has learned.
Nygard could were in his 20s at the time.
Des Depourcq, a retired Winnipeg Police Carrier detective, says that he and his spouse arrested Nygard and charged him with a sexual offence in 1968. The rate used to be later dropped. (John Badcock/CBC)
“I received a record from a tender woman of a sexual nature, and we investigated the offence,” stated Des Depourcq, a detective with Winnipeg police at the time. He hasn’t ever informed this story publicly.
“My recollection is she was once a tender girl, somewhere I Am guessing round 18 and i believe she labored for Mr. Nygard in his manufacturing facility.”
Breaking their silence: 2 Canadian girls say they had been raped via Peter Nygard
Depourcq mentioned he arrested and charged Nygard, but the girl refused to testify and the charges had been withdrawn.
it is a acquainted story. In 1980, Nygard used to be charged again with rape in Winnipeg, and once more the fees have been withdrawn when the lady refused to testify.
Teen’s family presented $250K, recommend says
Then, within the nineteen nineties, a 14-yr-old lady got here forward in Winnipeg pronouncing she were raped by way of Nygard, The Fifth Property has discovered.
Her circle of relatives turned to Joy Smith for help. Smith, who later began an anti-human trafficking basis in the city, used to be a faculty trainer on the time helping girls and ladies who had been trafficked.
Pleasure Smith, a former MP who began an anti-human trafficking foundation, says she met a family who said their teen daughter used to be raped via Nygard. (John Badcock/CBC)
“They explained to me Peter Nygard made them feel that they couldn’t win anything anyway. He had the money and he’d struggle them and their lives would be ruined,” stated Smith, who was later an MP in Winnipeg for greater than a decade.
She said Nygard offered the family money for his or her silence.
“Peter Nygard persuaded them not to go to the police and to not document, and he gave them $250,000 to maintain quiet,” Smith said.
She said Peter Nygard raped her. Here Is why the allegation stayed secret for 40 years
Nygard’s legal professional, Jay Prober, said in an e-mail that “there’ll be no comment” in response to The Fifth Property’s findings.
‘Not Anything sticks to this man’
The police themselves have felt powerless now and then, The Fifth Estate investigation discovered.
In 1984, an 18-12 months antique Nygard employee, who was once being sexually harrassed by means of Nygard at paintings, stated she approached a police officer she knew. She desired to press charges.
“The officer informed me … that he had had a look into Peter Nygard’s document,” she stated, including that the officer mentioned Nygard’s report used to be “10 and a half inches top.”
The Fifth Property is protective the woman’s id as a survivor of sexual attack.
“Not Anything sticks to this man,” the girl stated the officer said. “i do not recognize what’s happening. you might have to get out of there.”
WATCH | A Winnipeg lady says a police officer steered her to give up her Nygard job:
Winnipeg woman says police officer warned her to circumvent Nygard
A woman in Winnipeg, whose identification is being protected, says a police detective warned her about Peter Nygard and prompt her to give up her task. 2:19
The Girl gave her realize at work, however before her ultimate day, she mentioned Nygard took her to his apartment and raped her.
Afterwards, she mentioned, she was given an envelope with two weeks’ revenue and informed by way of one in all Nygard’s employees to “acquire my things and go away with a immediately face.”
“i used to be too scared to mention anything to the police.”
How Peter Nygard saved allegations of sexual assault within the Bahamas secret for greater than 2 many years
A Lot of the reporting thus far approximately Nygard has puzzled whether or not his cash and connections have helped him to steer clear of prosecution within the Bahamas, the place he has lived phase-time since the 1980s.
Whilst there is not anything to suggest Nygard’s affect played a job in the determination to not lay fees concerning the 8 Winnipeg survivors, the new revelations recommend his pattern of evading prosecution existed lengthy sooner than Nygard arrived in the Bahamas.
“Society thinks, ‘Oh, Peter Nygard perfected everything within the Bahamas,'” Hickes stated.
“No. He perfected the right way to get away with all of this in Winnipeg.”
in the event you have any information, or a exclusive tip, to percentage about this story, please touch Timothy Sawa at [email protected] or [email protected]. for info about how one can ship pointers confidentially, please talk over with The Fifth Property’s website online.
for those who want support, listed below are some options to seek out it 24 hours a day:
Across Canada: Obstacle Products And Services Canada at 1-833-456-4566.
In Toronto: Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 1-866-863-0511 or 1-866-863-7868, or textual content #SAFE (#7233).
In Manitoba: Sexual Assault Crisis Line (24/7) at (204) 786-8631 in Winnipeg and 1-888-292-7565 around the province.
For adolescence: Youngsters Help Telephone at 1-800-668-6868 or textual content connect with 686868.