Letters from exes, pastor, dentist vouch for Peter Nygard's character ahead of Toronto sex assault sentencing

A pastor, former girlfriends, employees and even Peter Nygard's dentist were among nearly 20 people who wrote letters vouching for the disgraced fashion mogul's character and asking a Toronto judge for leniency as he considers what sentence to hand down after Nygard was convicted last fall of sexually assaulting four women.

That list includes Bianca McKinney, who wrote in a letter submitted as defence evidence in Nygard's sentencing hearing this week that she met him at a party he hosted in 2008 in Los Angeles and that he later hired her as a model. 

She said it was important for her to speak on Nygard's behalf because of his declining health.

"I believe that the U.S. and Canadian justice system is about giving people an opportunity of rehabilitation," she said in a phone interview, adding she hopes officials at the Toronto jail he's being held in start to "pay closer attention to his health."

"I want him to have an opportunity to not die in jail, at the least."

Arguments in the sentencing hearing for Nygard, 83, wrapped up earlier this week, after he was found guilty by a jury on Nov. 12 of four counts of sexual assault and acquitted of a fifth count, as well as a charge of forcible confinement.

Prosecutors want him sentenced to 15 years for incidents where they say Nygard lured victims to the headquarters of his now-defunct clothing company in Toronto before attacking them. The incidents dated from the 1980s until the mid-2000s and involved three women who were in their 20s at the time and another who was 16.

Nygard's lawyer says he should get less than two years' jail time going forward, due in part to the time he's already served, his age and health concerns he's struggled to get adequate care for in custody. They include glaucoma, Type 2 diabetes, chronic pain and incontinence.

Nygard's sentencing was delayed in part because his two previous defence lawyers separately withdrew from the case earlier this year. Nygard, who once led a multimillion-dollar clothing empire, last week lost a bid to have the hearing pushed back again.

Toronto Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein is scheduled to deliver his sentence on Friday, Aug. 2.

Pastor 'would have taken a different path' if he knew about Nygard's assaults

McKinney said she knew a different side of Nygard, and described him in her letter as "an angel sent from heaven" who respected her "modesty and Christian values." When an accident left her partially paralyzed from a spinal cord injury, she wrote Nygard "unconditionally supported" her and was at the time "the only friend I had left."

"I'm very cautious about the victims. I do not want to disrespect the victims or even cast doubt on their testimonies," she told CBC News. "Peter has been found guilty of sexual assault and he absolutely should pay for those crimes. However, I do not believe that that is the Peter Nygard that I met."

Carl Johnson, a pastor and motivational speaker from the Bahamas, said in his letter he met Nygard around 2015 and described him as a compassionate, generous man who helped fund the track team at the school Johnson worked at at the time.

"The Bahamas, and indeed the world, are better places because of individuals like Mr. Peter Nygard, who selflessly dedicated their lives to serving others," the letter said. 

Like McKinney, Johnson said in a phone interview he wanted the court to know the Nygard he knew — even if he was shocked, disappointed and sad to hear Nygard was found guilty of sexually assaulting four women.

"That's not who I knew, and that's not my experience, and that's not my last memory of him. And so I only wrote based on my experience. I couldn't write on what I didn't know," Johnson told CBC News.

Johnson said had he known about Nygard's behaviour earlier, it would have changed the way he perceived him.

"Most definitely I would have taken a different path," said Johnson, who has two daughters who are now similar in age to the women involved in the Toronto case at the time Nygard assaulted them.

"If anything happened to them, I would really, really be angry. And so I have that side of me as a father, you know. My heart goes out to anyone who's taken advantage of, especially underage."

'No one's suggesting he raped everyone': Crown

Letters were also submitted by former girlfriend Suelyn Medeiros — who described Nygard as generous and respectful, and said he paid for treatment for her mother after a lupus diagnosis in 2009 — and former Nygard company executive Greg Fenske, who outlined the community service awards Nygard has received.

Medeiros was previously named in a lawsuit by a Florida woman who claimed Nygard raped her in 2010 when she was 18 and that Medeiros was partially to blame for allegedly luring her to the Bahamas. Medeiros has previously denied the allegations through her lawyers, and the lawsuit was later stayed by a judge until Nygard's criminal charges have been dealt with.

Meanwhile, Fenske has previously admitted in court to destroying more than 1,000 emails and documents after a subpoena from U.S. authorities ordering the company to turn over internal information. In denying Nygard bail in Manitoba in 2021, a judge cited Nygard's "obvious control" over Fenske and his "willingness to break rules."

Other letters described Nygard as someone who financially supported many charities and people in his life, and said they never saw him behave inappropriately with women or girls. 

Crown attorney Neville Golwalla this week said those characterizations stand in contrast to the "Jekyll and Hyde" behaviour described by the women Nygard is convicted of sexually assaulting, adding the letters have "very limited value" because they describe his public behaviour, not his private assaults.

"It's not unusual for a sex-offender to otherwise lead a productive life," Golwalla told court. "No one's suggesting he raped everyone, and that's kind of what the import of those letters leave you with."

Nygard's lawyer, Gerri Wiebe, said the community support in the letters should be considered a mitigating factor — and that they weren't provided to dispute Nygard's convictions but rather to give the judge a complete picture of the person he's sentencing.