‘An overwhelming rush of relief’ Nygard accusers ‘vindicated’ with guilty verdict By: Tyler Searle Posted: 4:05 PM CST Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023

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This article was published 12/11/2023 (713 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Serena Hickes felt an overwhelming rush of relief when she learned a Toronto jury had found Peter Nygard guilty of four counts of sexual assault Sunday morning.

“I am so happy for them and their families. I am not saying it takes away the pain — it doesn’t — but I am a survivor for all. If somebody is getting that, and they are finding the peace and justice in that, then I am overjoyed,” said Hickes, a Winnipeg woman who is one of dozens of people who have accused the disgraced fashion mogul of sexual crimes.

Speaking by phone moments after learning the verdict, Hickes described the significance of the decision, saying it vindicates victims who have spoken against Nygard for decades.

“I knew my truth, but there are people who need to hear guilty. I am just so happy because there are a lot of women, there are a lot of families out there, and they bloody needed this,” she said.

“I’m hoping that the women who couldn’t come forward are finding some peace.”

Hickes was in her early 20s and working as a sales clerk in one of Nygard’s retail stores when she says he raped her in a fitting room. Now in her 50s, she went public with her story in late 2020, after reporting the attack to the Winnipeg Police Service.

Police informed her in July the Manitoba Crown attorney’s office would not pursue charges against Nygard relating to her complaint.

“Even when I went in to give my statement, I sadly didn’t feel that anything was going to come out of it,” Hickes said. “In Toronto, I thought there would be some justice found — never in Winnipeg, I’ve never believed that — but Toronto always had that chance.”

Nygard, 82, will be sentenced for his crimes at a later date.

“He’s old. He’s coming out (of prison) in a pine box. Let’s be real,” Hickes said, adding that she believes there are other victims.

Nygard, who founded and grew his now-defunct fashion empire in the Manitoba capital, is facing separate charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement in Quebec, Manitoba and the United States.

The remaining charges against him have not been tested in court.

KC Allan — a former Winnipegger who accused Nygard of violently assaulting her when she was a teenager in 1979 — said she was pleased with Sunday’s result, but the unresolved cases against Nygard highlight significant flaws in the justice system.

Like Hickes, Manitoba Crown attorneys opted not to pursue charges relating to her complaints.

“This is a civil rights crime. We (victims) are a minority group,” she said by phone. “It has been worse dealing with the justice system than it was getting raped.”

Allan filed a complaint to the Law Society of Manitoba in 2020, after lawyer Jay Prober (who was then representing Nygard) made comments in the Free Press alleging several women who accused his client of sexual assault “see dollar signs and they are jumping on the bandwagon.”

The Winnipeg lawyer faced two counts of professional misconduct as a result.

Allan said Prober’s comments are an example of how sexual assault victims are perceived and treated by lawyers who seek to discredit them.

As for Nygard, she hopes the sentence he receives is just.

“It’s such a key part of Mr. Nygard’s origin story that he started out his life in what he has described as a cold cellar,” Allan said, referring to Nygard’s repeated claims that his family lived in a 15-foot-by-13-foot converted coal bin when he was a child.

“I think it’s only fitting that he is going to end his life in a small, dark, dank space similarly like a cold cellar. He has come full circle.”

Shannon Moroney, a Toronto therapist and social worker who has counseled more than a dozen people affected by Nygard, said “Justice is not something that will be served to any one of the victims.”

“For survivors and victims, now the work continues.”

Moroney agreed that Nygard’s accusers have been demeaned, discredited and abused at every level of the justice system.

“All of these allegations that were made by the defense, that these women were gold diggers, that they lied and made things up, those were just absolutely disgusting misogynistic tropes that shouldn’t be allowed,” she said.

“I think Winnipeg, the Winnipeg police and Manitoba Crowns really need to reevaluate all of their systems and what role did those play in enabling Peter Nygard to do this for so long.”

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

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