The lawyer for former Canadian trend mogul Peter Nygard argued in a Winnipeg courtroom Friday {that a} evaluation by Saskatchewan prosecutors of a Manitoba Prosecution Service choice to not cost her shopper with sexual assault was achieved due to political stress.
Gerri Wiebe, Nygard’s lawyer, is asking for a keep of proceedings on expenses of sexual assault and illegal confinement that Nygard faces in Winnipeg.
Wiebe instructed provincial courtroom Decide Mary Kate Harvie that former Manitoba legal professional basic Kelvin Goertzen felt political stress to hunt a second opinion and ordered the evaluation after getting a briefing on the matter.
“This was actually intervention from the highest,” Wiebe stated. “A dictate from Mount Olympus.”
Nygard was first arrested in Winnipeg in December 2020 below the Extradition Act, after he was charged with 9 counts in New York, together with intercourse trafficking and racketeering.
On the time, the Winnipeg Police Service had been investigating Nygard for months. The information of eight girls who alleged they’d been assaulted by Nygard have been despatched to Manitoba’s Justice Ministry for review in December 2020.
Prosecutors determined not to lay charges against Nygard in Manitoba in 2021 and, as is customary, there have been no particulars offered on how that call was reached.
Goertzen introduced in late 2022 that Manitoba was going to take a second look at the decision, searching for the recommendation of Saskatchewan’s prosecution services.
That evaluation resulted in Nygard being charged with sexual assault and illegal confinement in Winnipeg in 2023.
Nygard’s lawyer filed an abuse of course of movement, arguing public protests, intense media stress and questions from different politicians within the Manitoba Legislature put stress on Goertzen to behave.
She argued it undermined the integrity of the justice system.
“We’re saying he was influenced by outdoors politics,” Wiebe instructed the courtroom.
Wiebe instructed the decide that is the primary time in Manitoba historical past such a call has been made and questioned why Nygard was singled out amongst different accused whom the Crown hasn’t really helpful expenses towards.
The chronology suggests important political stress, Wiebe argued.
“Sixteen months after the choice to not prosecute this case, within the face of direct questioning within the legislative meeting, the legal professional basic sought a second opinion,” Wiebe stated in courtroom.
CBC Information has reached out to the Manitoba Progressive Conservative caucus for remark from Goertzen, who’s the MLA for Steinbach.
Nygard was sentenced to 11 years in jail in September after he was convicted in Toronto of 4 counts of sexual assault involving 5 girls who stated they have been attacked between the late Nineteen Eighties and the early 2000s.
He’s additionally dealing with expenses in Quebec and the USA. He has denied all allegations towards him.
Source link