Defense seeks six-year sentence for former fashion mogul Peter Nygard

Former fashion mogul Peter Nygard should be sentenced to six years in prison for his sexual assault convictions, his lawyer told a Toronto court Thursday, arguing a longer sentence would be “crushing” for a man of his age and status.

Defence lawyer Gerri Wiebe asked the court to give Nygard 1.5 days credit for each of the more than 1,000 days he has already spent in custody since his arrest on the charges in October 2021, which would leave him with just under two years to serve.

The sentence would be appropriate given her client's age and health, the “difficult” conditions he has been held in to date, as well as mitigating factors such as his lack of a criminal record, Wiebe told the court. It would also allow him to remain in the provincial correctional system, she added.

Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein stressed that even if he imposed such a sentence, there would be no guarantee that Nygard would be able to serve his time in the facility where he is currently being held, a pretrial detention centre where, the judge said, it is “very rare” that anyone would want to stay.

Still, Wiebe said, the provincial system would be preferable to the federal system in this case, suggesting the federal system lacks support for older inmates.

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“At a minimum, there is a familiarity with its needs (in the provincial system) that would not exist in the federal system,” she said.

Nygard, 83, was convicted last November of four counts of sexual assault but was found not guilty of a fifth count as well as one count of unlawful confinement.

The charges stem from allegations dating from the 1980s to the mid-2000s.

On Wednesday, Wiebe highlighted Nygard's multiple health issues, including Type 2 diabetes, poor vision, claustrophobia and several allergies, and said he had not received proper care while in custody. She said her client had not undergone a full medical evaluation since his arrest.

The court heard Nygard has a private room with a specialist bed and access to special transport to accommodate his claustrophobia.

Prosecutors have said they are seeking a 15-year sentence, minus time already served by Nygard. The Crown is asking the court to calculate that credit on a one-for-one basis, rather than 1.5.

Crown prosecutor Neville Golwalla suggested Thursday that Nygard “relied on his medical needs” to delay the sentencing process.

He noted that Nygard requested and was granted about eight months of adjournment after the verdict, in part so he could obtain medical records and evidence related to his health.

The sentencing hearing that began Wednesday has also been postponed several times due to Nygard's difficulties obtaining and retaining counsel. His two previous defence lawyers asked to withdraw from the case in quick succession earlier this year.

Wiebe took over the case after Megan Savard stepped down from the case in June. Savard had taken over after Brian Greenspan asked to be removed from the case in January.

Nygard is also charged in two other provinces and is awaiting extradition to the United States.

He was first arrested in Winnipeg in 2020 under the Extradition Act after being charged with nine counts in New York, including sex trafficking and racketeering.

His challenge to the extradition order was dismissed by Manitoba's highest court in May.

In his sentencing submissions Thursday, Wiebe suggested the court could also give Nygard credit for time he spent in custody related to his extradition, even though it is unrelated to the case for which he is being convicted.

She argued that the court had the discretion to do so and that Nygard was unlikely to be credited for that time in his U.S. case.

Nygard is scheduled to be sentenced on August 2.

© 2024 The Canadian Press