Nygard accuses Crown of 'wanting to trap' him during tense cross-examination

Testy exchanges between Crown attorney Neville Golwalla and Peter Nygard marked the first day of his cross-examinationat his sexual assault trial, withtheformerCanadian fashionmogulat one pointaccusing the prosecutorof wantingto trap him.

Much of the day had a confrontational tone, with Nygard suggesting he didn't understand the questions or questioning why theywere being asked and why Golwallawas spending so much time attempting to get him to answer themdirectly.

Nygard, 82, at timessaid he couldn't recalldetails, including some of the questions posed to him during his interview with police in October2021.

The combative tone seemed to be set early in the day, withGolwallaasking Nygard about being "married" to his work, He pointedout that Nygardtold thecourt last week that he worked 12 to 18 hours a day, but on Tuesday testified, more specifically, thathe worked 18.

"If I made a mistake by only saying18, I apologize for that," Nygard said.

"No need to apologizeto me, sir.We just want to know what your evidence is, sir," Golwalla said.

"You seem to making an issue out of it for somereason,"Nygard responded. At that point Justice Robert Goldstein ended the line of questioning, saying: "We're not goingto have a debate."

'Trying to be careful'

But minutes later, during questioning of how much sleep he would typicallyget amid those long work days,Nygard said he wanted to be careful how he answered because Golwalla seemed"to be wanting to trap me into some type of statements that aren't consistent withwhat I said before. SoI'mtrying tobe careful."

Golwalladenied he was trying to trap Nygard and said he's allowed to ask questions.

Nygardhas pleaded not guilty in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice to five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement. Goldstein is presiding over the Toronto jury trial, which began in late September.

The Crown contends that in thefive cases whichinvolve women who were between age 16 and their late 20s at the time Nygard used his power and status to lure them to his downtown Toronto office building, located at 1 Niagara St.

Once there, Nygard often provided a tour of the building, ending in his private bedroom suite, which included a giant bed, televisions on walls and a Jacuzzi, court has heard.

Last week, through questioningby his lawyer Brian Greenspan, Nygard told the court he couldn't recall four of the five complainants,but denied he committed any of the alleged assaults, saying he would never engage in such behaviour.

'This is not rocket science'

Golwallaalso asked Nygard abouthiscareer which, Nygard acknowledged,was launched after beinghired byNathan Jacob of Jacob Fashions.

Golwallasuggested that Jacob had taken a chance on Nygard, who then had no experience in the garment industry.

He seemed to be trying to undermine Nygard's earlier testimony that he was unlikely to take a chance on hiring rookies.

Court previously heard testimony from one of the complainants that she metNygard on a flight and that after some brief conversation, and despite her lack of experience he offered hera jobimporting and exporting textiles, tripling her salary.

Nygard, last week, testified he would never make such an offer.

Responding to Golwalla about his own hiring, Nygard said that when Jacob hired him, Jacobalready knew much about his scholastic and work background.

Golwalla pressed Nygard on the issue of taking a chance on someone and about offering incentives to get someone to work for him.

"This is not rocket science Mr. Nygard. I'm just suggesting to you that if you want to bringsomeone into the company you're goingto give them incentives, economic or otherwise, tobringthem in," Golwalla said.

Nygard agreed it wasn't rocket science which is why, he said, he didn't understand why he was being asked the question.

"Why don't you notwonder about whyI'masking the question and answer the question?" Golwalla said.Again, the judgestepped in.

Golwalla also spent much of the day questioning Nygard about his October 2021 interview with police. Nygard said he wanted to co-operate with police and was trying to be helpful.

Golwalla asked about some of the questions he was asked, including whether herecognized one of the complainants.

Nygard told Golwalla that he had told the officer, no, he didn't recognize her.

But Golwalla, quoting from the police report, said that Nygard actually answered:"I recognize the script. It's the same script that's used over and over again. Almost every one off these statements" meaning those of all the complainants "hasthe same script to it."

Nygardtold court that what he meant is that somepeople, like the police andGolwalla, will use "scripts" to try to trap people into "some kind of admissions."

"There's a certain kind of script that you go through and make it very difficult to be able to answer those questions," he said.

The cross-examination of Nygard continues on Wednesday.