Peter Nygard was handed an 11-year sentence on Monday after being convicted last November on four counts of sexual assault. Legal experts say they are not surprised by the ruling.
“Given the nature of the offences, if they didn’t have a degree of dominance, confinement, he approached it with zero remorse in the way he conducted the trial,” said criminal lawyer Monte MacGregor.
While Nygard’s team said they plan to appeal the sentence and conviction, MacGregor believes it will have little success.
“The one thing about sex assault appeals is that to order a new trial warrants reconstituting it and it means putting the complainants back through it. It’s got to be a significant overriding legal error, and I’m sure that they will focus on the evidence that was profited by the expert. But I think I wouldn’t be surprised if that has the same outcome as Jacob Hoggard’s case, which is this didn’t really impact the conviction enough toward a new trial.”
Though the Nygard’s Toronto trial may be over, advocates say life doesn’t just simply move on.
“The scars and the wounds don’t just heal over and heal themselves,” said therapist and advocate Shannon Moroney. “The challenges of everyday, regular life is still so much very affected by the trauma of what Nygard did to them and or what any abuser has done to anybody.”
Moroney, who worked with survivors in the Toronto case as well as other women in upcoming Nygard cases in other jurisdictions, said there needs to be more funding and overall support to help victims.
“We have many survivors who are living at or below the poverty line. Psychological support, therapy, counselling. In Ontario, we don’t have public health funding for therapy and that’s just wrong.”
Jennifer Hoffman says she was violently sexually assaulted by Nygard over 20 years ago. She is from the United States but came to support victims who were part of the trial in Toronto because, for her, she knows how important it can be for someone to simply be there.
“Sometimes support just looks like showing up for someone even without saying a word. By showing up, and sitting there and saying I see you, I believe you, I’m here for you and we’re going to get through this,” said Hoffman.
Hoffman also said it’s okay if the path to healing looks different from person to person.
“When we ask for a bit of support, if we’re able to say, you know what, I can’t do this alone, and I don’t really know what that looks like, but I think I’d like to share that with somebody and maybe that somebody that you share that with, will help you find your next step. As victims of violent crimes, we are forever changed, but that doesn’t mean that our lives have to be taken away forever.”
For Moroney, one of the messages she wants to convey is that society can help by deciding to step up and speak up.
“If you don’t like how your tax dollars are being spent, as a taxpayer, as a citizen, you’ve got to let somebody know about that. Get uncomfortable to help make others comfortable.”
For Hoffman, she hopes her message reaches other victims who are finding it difficult to tell their story.
“If it takes you 10 years, if it takes you 15 years, if it takes you 30 years, if it takes you your entire life, you should still be able to tell. Even though it feels like you’re all alone in this, you don’t have to be.”