Nygard takes another shot at getting out of jail
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/02/2021 (1154 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
IN a bid to get out of Headingley jail, Winnipeg businessman Peter Nygard has hired a prominent Toronto lawyer, who filed an appeal of the decision to deny him bail.
Nygard, 79, has been in custody since Dec. 14 when he was arrested on a U.S. extradition warrant. Justice officials in New York have filed a nine-count indictment against Nygard for sex-trafficking and racketeering offences over decades.
In denying him bail on Feb. 5, Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg said she had no faith Nygard would refrain from contacting the alleged victims, since he has a history of ignoring court orders.
In an application filed Thursday, Nygard’s legal team proposed severe limits on his phone calls, emails and text messages, were he to be released, and argued the judge was wrong to keep him behind bars, CBC reported.
The disgraced fashion magnate has retained Brian Greenspan to fight his appeal.
During his bail hearing last month, his Winnipeg defence team argued keeping Nygard in jail was equal to a death sentence because of his frail health and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week, sources told the Free Press Nygard had been taken to the jail infirmary, although it wasn’t clear why.
His Winnipeg lawyers, Jay Prober and Richard Wolson, wouldn’t comment on the story.
Affidavits provided to court by Nygard’s doctors say he has coronary artery disease, Type 2 diabetes, and fluctuating blood pressure.
His health has deteriorated, he has lost weight and has had more difficulty breathing since coming into custody, Wolson said at the bail hearing.
Nygard’s age and health problems make him more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, should he remain in custody, Wolson and Prober argued.
Remaining in jail is “a horrible situation for a man who is compromised in so many different ways from a health perspective,” Wolson said. “Nygard is a time bomb.”
A source had told the Free Press Nygard is being held in protective custody on the main floor of Headingley Correctional Centre because he’s unable to climb stairs.
A corrections officer escorts him to the main-floor medical unit for showers, the source said. He eats alone in his cell and has no contact with other inmates.
