Experts accuse Peter Nygard of intimidation after he sues complainant for defamation
CBC
Representatives of convicted sex offender and disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard have served one of his accusers with a lawsuit in Manitoba.
Nygard was charged last July with sexually assaulting April Telek. A month later, he sued her for defamation.
Legal experts believe this is part of a growing trend of witness intimidation intended to have a chilling effect that might prevent other victims from coming forward with their own allegations.
"It's outrageous," said Toronto lawyer Gillian Hnatiw.
"If media reports are to be believed, there are many, many victims of Peter Nygard. And if … there are some waiting in the wings still and watching how this is unfolding, it could potentially silence those women."
Nygard, 82, was found guilty by a Toronto jury last November of four counts of sexual assault, in connection with assaults in Toronto during a period from the late 1980s to around 2005.
He is also charged with one count of sexual assault and forcible confinement in Montreal. That trial will begin in January.
In addition, he is facing the sexual assault charge in Manitoba involving Telek.
Telek, who lives in Vancouver, said Nygard invited her to Winnipeg for a modelling job in 1993, when she was 20. Once there, she says he held her captive at his Notre Dame Avenue warehouse for days, drugged and repeatedly raped her.
In 2020, Winnipeg police investigated complaints from eight women that Nygard sexually assaulted them.
The Manitoba Prosecution Service initially said there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction and therefore charges wouldn't be laid. That didn't sit well with then justice minister Kelvin Goertzen, who sent the case to Saskatchewan prosecutors for review in December 2022.
They came back with recommendations to charge Nygard in Telek's case, which Winnipeg police did last July.
Telek reacted to the news in a CBC story published at that time. Nygard then sued her and CBC, claiming the story and her comments were defamatory.
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