Woman faces questions about Nygard's genitals during sex assault trial

WARNING: This article contains descriptionsof sexual abuse

The fifthof five women toclaim she was sexually assaulted byPeter Nygard wrapped up her testimony in a Toronto courtroom on Tuesday, which included answeringquestions about the genitals of the one-time Canadian fashion mogul.

At the time of the alleged attackswhich covered a period from the late 1980s to 2005 the five women ranged in age from 16 to their late 20s.

Nygard, 82,has pleaded not guilty in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice tofive counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement. Justice Robert Goldstein is presiding over the jury trial.

No further testimony was expected to be heard from the complainants.

The Crown contends that Nygard used his power and status to lure the women to his downtown Toronto office building.Once there, they would end up in his private bedroom suite, usually following a tour of the building, court heard.And it's inside that suite, the Crown alleges andeach of thewomen hastestified that Nygard attacked and sexually assaulted them.

Thefifth woman to testify spent the day cross-examined byNygard's lawyer, Brian Greenspan, whotriedto pick apart elementsof her story, raisedquestions about her motives, and, at one point, accusedher of lying about the size of Nygard's penis.

On Monday, the woman told courtshe had met Nygardwhen she was 21during a function at a club in Hull, Que., in 1989. She said they spoke briefly and she discussed her interest in fashion, mentioningthat she had created her own fashion line.

She said they eventually met in Toronto and he brought her to hisheadquarters. They ended up in his private bedroom suite, where, she alleged, Nygard sexually assaulted her.

Greenspanasked the woman about a detail that hadn't been revealed in court during her testimony for the Crown thatshe had told police that Nygard's penis wasn't the usualsize but the size of "a little child's penis."

"I suggest to you that's pure fantasy and a total lie," Greenspan said.

"That is incorrect," the woman responded. She repeated the claimunder further questioning by Greenspan.

Greenspan alsoreferred to the woman's previous testimonythat she hadinitially decided not to pursue charges against Nygard, in part, after a conversation with her mother about the futility of going after someone so powerful, with high-profile lawyers at his disposal.

Greenspan noted that the woman was now being represented in the U.S. by Gloria Allredherself a high-profileattorney known for representingwomen in sexual assault and harassment cases. Allred helped the complainant arrange her statement to Los Angeles police about Nygard's alleged attack on her.

The woman also said she never retained a lawyer, that Allred had been referred by a rape crisis centre andwas representing her pro bono. The woman,unlike the other complainants, was also not part of a U.S.-based civil lawsuit against Nygard, court heard.

Greenspan asked whether sheintended to initiate civil proceedings against Nygard should a conviction be secured against him. She said itwasn't on her mind.

Greenspan also questionedthe woman about the night she met Nygard. Thewoman hadsuggested it was inappropriate that Nygardwas there with teenagesupermodel Monika Schnarre and that he had been holding her hand throughout the evening.

Under cross-examination, the woman acknowledged that she didn't know Schnarre was engaged in contract negotiations with Nygard to be a lead model for his fashions. She said she was also unaware that forthe entire evening,Schnarre wasaccompanied by a chaperon.

"You created an after-the-factcharacterizationof an innocent time when Mr. Nyagard was walking with Ms. Schnarrethe best known model in Canada, who everyone knows is [a teenager]walking though a public club, and you've taken a negative view of that because you want to characterize Mr.Nygard in a negative way," Greenspan said.

"I disagree, because I'm entitled to my opinion of how I felt when I saw him holding her hand," she said.

'Meant nothing to me'

The woman had also told court on Monday that before she and Nygard went to hisToronto headquarters, they met at a nearby bar. But once there, instead of talking about the fashion industry, Nygard was only interested in discussing her sexual activities, court heard.

Greenspan suggested the woman was flattered that Nygard, a rich andfamousolder man,thought she was attractive.

"I was not flattered at all. It meant nothing to me," she said.

Shehad also testified Monday that when she entered Nygard's private bedroom suite,there was nohandleon the doorto exit the room.

The woman did acknowledge to Greenspanthat the door to the washroom inside the private suite had a handle and that she had used the washroom at some point.

"I suggest to you that thatrestroom not only hasa door in, but the other side of that restroom is a door out to the public space, also with a door handle," Greenspan said."Do you recall that?"

"I certainly do not, and I would not have been looking for an escape route out of a toilet, sir," the woman responded.

Greenspan asked the woman a series of specific questions. He asked if she and Nygard engaged in kissing before or while she was in his bedroom suite.

"I recall no kissing," she said.

Asked about any touching, she said the only touching was Nygard touching her and her trying to push him off.

"Did you and Mr. Nygard engage in mutual oral sex," Greenspan asked.

"Absolutely not," she said.

She also denied that he said if she woke up in the middle of the night and wanted sex, she shouldwake him up and that he would do the same.

The trial continues on Wednesday.