Ontario’s top court has dismissed Peter Nygard’s sexual assault convictions appeal
The former fashion executive will continue to serve an 11-year prison sentence
Peter Nygård, the former fashion executive who is serving an 11-year prison sentence after being convicted of sexually assaulting four women between the 1980s and the mid-2000s, had his appeal dismissed today in an Ontario court.
His sexual assault convictions and prison sentence will remain unchanged.
As reported by the Canadian Press, a unanimous three-judge appeals panel ruled that there was no miscarriage of justice in the trial that resulted in Nygård’s conviction. His lawyers had argued that the judge made errors throughout that case, including by allowing expert testimony on trauma to be admitted.
Ontario’s Appeal Court determined that a reduction to Nygård’s sentence “would not be appropriate,” explaining that, “As the sentencing judge recognized, the appellant’s age and condition are relevant considerations, but they do not justify the imposition of a sentence disproportionate to the gravity of the offences.”
Nygård, who is now 84, has denied all allegations against him.
He faces separate sex charges in Quebec and the possibility of extradition to the United States due to other sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
Related: A Toronto police officer has been charged with sexual assault and suspended with pay
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
