TORONTO — Former fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been denied bail as he appeals his sexual assault convictions in Toronto and an 11-year prison sentence. An Ontario Court of Appeal judge dismissed the bail application, saying that Nygard’s appeal appears to be “weak” and that he presents a flight risk as he faces charges in other jurisdictions. “I have determined that the confidence of the public in the administration of justice would be undermined by release of the applicant pending appeal,” Justice Lene Madsen wrote in the decision.
Nygard, 83, was convicted of four counts of sexual assault last year after multiple women came forward with allegations dating from the 1980s until the mid-2000s. The judge who presided over the trial said Nygard’s time behind bars would work out to a little less than seven years after accounting for time already spent in custody. The notice of appeal Nygard’s lawyers filed in court last month argues that his sentence is “excessive” and that the trial judge made several errors, including admitting the testimony of clinical psychologist Lori Haskell on the effects of trauma.
The lawyers cited the case of Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard, whose appeal of his 2022 sexual assault conviction also took issue with Haskell’s testimony on the neurobiology of trauma during his trial. The Appeal Court found that the judge in Hoggard’s trial erred in admitting Haskell’s evidence, in part because it risked being misused by the jury to.