Disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard’s lawyer wants the Winnipeg sexual assault trial slated for later this year to stop before it gets started because police failed to retain records related to allegations that stem from the 1990s.
Nygard appeared via video link in a Winnipeg courtroom on Monday where his lawyer, Gerri Wiebe, filed a motion requesting a stay of proceedings.
Wiebe said Nygard has been denied the right to a fair trial on the basis that officers who interviewed the woman in the case in 1993 were unable to produce documentation from their exchanges at the time.
The woman, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, alleges Nygard sexually assaulted her at his Winnipeg warehouse apartment in November of that year.
She went on to speak with officers, including in Vancouver. The investigation was launched by Winnipeg police in 2020.
The woman said she spoke with two police officers and a social worker in 1993 and told them, “I am safe. I am fine. I will be fine,” according to court documents.
An officer with the North Vancouver RCMP followed up with the woman shortly after in Vancouver.
As part of the investigation, officers who spoke with the woman at the time were interviewed. They were asked for any notes, interview details or documents related to their discussions with the complainant, but they couldn’t locate them, court heard.
Wiebe said the RCMP officer told Winnipeg police the woman said she was at a “social gathering” and went to the bathroom when she began to suspect she had been drugged. She also told the officers she feared she was being watched and made an effort to leave.
The officer also told investigators there was a discussion of whether there was any recourse possible as she wasn’t able to prove anything, court heard.
“That’s an unusual statement,” provincial court Judge Mary Kate Harvie said.
“That statement screams that there was more followup,” Wiebe said in response.
“We don’t know how these records were stored. We don’t know what became of them.… We don’t know anything about the retention policies that were in place in the North Vancouver RCMP office.”
Wiebe wants the court to find evidence of unacceptable negligence and stay the proceedings. If not, the trial is scheduled to take place in December.
Saskatchewan Crown Rob Parker, representing the prosecution, is fighting the motion.
Nygard is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after he was found guilty in an Ontario court of four counts of sexual assault for offences from the 1980s to mid-2000s. He is appealing the conviction and sentence.
He also faces charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement for incidents that allegedly took place between Nov. 1, 1997, and Nov. 15, 1998, in Montreal.
