The Facts
A Toronto jury on Sunday found Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard guilty of four counts of sexual assault but acquitted him of a fifth count and a charge of forcible confinement.
Four women and a 16-year-old girl had testified that Nygard assaulted them in his private bedroom suite in his namesake clothing company's headquarters between the 1980s and the mid-2000s.
The Spin
Narrative A
With this guilty verdict, justice has been served. Though nothing can undo Nygard's horrific exploitation of power, this conclusion has at least brought some resolution to the women he assaulted decades ago. This is certainly a win in the fight to bring even the most influential in society to account.
Narrative B
The Nygard saga is a microcosm of the widespread rot created by the exclusivity and concentrations of power in elite society. There needs to be more of a focus on preventing the kind of systemic abuse Nygard got away with for so many years, instead of just reacting to occasional verdicts after the fact. Society still has a long way to go in not only prosecuting predators like Nygard, but also preventing workplace abuse by those in positions of power.