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This is a CBC Podcast.
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The following episode contains difficult subject matter and accounts of
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sexual assault. Please take care.
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When I grew up on a small island, I moved
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to Nassau when I was about five years old, and
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I've been living here ever since. I planned on being
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a pediatrician when I grew up, but First, I wanted
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to be your model.
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There's little we can tell you about the young woman
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you're hearing. Least of all, her name. But she's letting
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us share her story. For decades, stories like hers have
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made their way through the Bahamas. But only in whispers.
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After all, Bahamians call what happened to her, hush. I
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met her in a private spot on a blistering hot
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February afternoon in Nassau. She's tiny, Soft-spoken, but also resolved.
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Because after hearing it happen to other people, I didn't
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want it to continue happening.
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Today, she's 19 with a one-year-old son. In the summer
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of 2015, she was practically a kid herself.
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It was me, my sister, my cousins. We're inside the
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mall on a Saturday. This was during the summer. And
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we were just, we were supposed to go watch a movie.
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And then we end up passing a store, passing Nygaard
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Slims store.
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Nygaard Slims, a women's clothing store named for the brand's owner,
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Peter Nygaard. The Finnish-Canadian fashion mogul in his 70s had
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called the Bahamas home for the last four decades.
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And there's two ladies were standing outside. One average height
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and one was like six foot. And she asked us
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if we wanted to come inside to try on the pants.
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The two women were models and invited the girls into
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the store.
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So then we went inside.
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She asked us for our sizes.
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Then we went in the back to the changing room.
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The Nygaard store was just opening in Nassau's Marathon Mall.
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And Peter Nygaard himself was there.
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He said people like me come inside the store and
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he wanted to make sure all his customers have something
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that could fit them.
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Nygaard asks to measure her personally.
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Well, he took my measurements from around my waist.
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It was big.
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Then going down, he said like around here is a
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little tight and around my ankle part, it was.
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A little big too.
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She says he rubbed her inner thighs and backside as
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he measured her.
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While he was measuring me, that's when he asked me
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about the modeling. He said if I wanted to start
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modeling for him. I told him I was still in school.
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He asked what grade she was in. She replied, 9th.
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Then we went to the front and took pictures. And
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that's how I got the picture with Nygaard.
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Nygaard left, instructing one of the models of the store
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to take her phone number. Within days, she received a
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call from another of Nygaard's employees. She's told it's about
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a modeling opportunity and that she should be ready in
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a dress, heels and makeup.
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She told me she was coming to pick me up
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and about time to be ready for.
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She's driven to the edge of an exclusive gated community,
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to Nygaard's luxurious estate. A home built as a series
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of glass tree houses surrounded by soaring structures made to
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look like a Mayan temple. The view is of a
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private white sand beach. It's a place he'd named Nygaard Key.
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The girl arrives to find a party. A kind of
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party Nygaard threw several nights a week.
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Yeah, we had dinner and all the people who were
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with me They were playing poker with Nygaard. I was
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just standing up, watching. After they were finished playing poker,
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he told me, let's go somewhere quiet so we can
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discuss business. I still thought we were going to have
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this discussion about the modelling.
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Instead of talking about modelling, she says Nygaard took her
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to his bedroom and raped her. She says she'd never
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had sex before this. When he was done, she says
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she was given an envelope of cash. As she left
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Nygaard's room and walked down the stairs, she saw another
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young girl walking up.
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I wasn't talking to no one. My head was just
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down so no one would see my face when I
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was crying.
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She never returned to Nygaard Key.
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It changed my life, and I held it in.
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For a very long time without telling anyone.
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Today, this young woman is known as Jane Doe, number one.
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Her account is the first in a long list of
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anonymous allegations against Peter Nygaard, some nearly identical, others spread
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far across time and place. But each helps reveal the
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picture of a predator, hidden in plain sight.
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Ten women have filed a civil class action lawsuit against
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Peter Nygaard. They allege the Canadian fashion executive raped them.
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In the early months of 2020, the lawsuit included Jane
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Doe No. 1, eight other women from the Bahamas, and
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an American former employee. Soon we found out there were
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criminal investigations into Nygaard, while more and more women joined
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the class action from Canada, Europe, and the U.S. Then,
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as the year came to an end, We have some
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breaking news for you.
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Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygaard has been arrested.
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Nygaard appeared in court this afternoon, shackled and disheveled. He
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didn't say anything. American authorities asked the RCMP to arrest Nygaard.
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He's been indicted in the Southern District of New York
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on multiple charges of sex trafficking, minors, racketeering and other offenses.
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An FBI investigation ended with Nygaard behind bars in Canada,
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awaiting extradition.
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Nygaard is denying the accusations, and his lawyer promises a
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vigorous defence. The CBC's been following the Nygaard story for
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nearly a decade.
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Until last year, Peter Nygaard was known mostly for his
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fashion brands. But some journalists had heard alarming stories about
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sexual misconduct and rape going back 25 years. And we've
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been trying to tell them ever since. I've been an
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investigative journalist at the CBC for more than two decades.
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And for almost half of that time, I've been investigating
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Nygaard as part of a team at the CBC program,
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The Fifth Estate. Through it all, Nygaard has used his
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vast resources and the courts to deter us. It hasn't worked.
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But this is a story about more than the fall
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of Peter Nygaard. It's the story of those who protected him,
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the systems and cultures that allowed him to thrive, and
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the women who may, in the end, bring him to justice.
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I'm Timothy Sawa. And this is Evil by Design. Episode 1.
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The Jane Does. Do you remember her telling you her story?
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Yes.
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A couple of years before she'd become a plaintiff in
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the lawsuit against Nygaard, Jane Doe No. 1 spoke to
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Daneth Cartwright. What was that like?
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She was so tiny and she was still in her uniform.
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A lawyer in the Bahamas, Danette's firm represented some of
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the women and girls who were the earliest to make
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allegations against Nygaard. She was one of the first people
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to hear their stories.
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I don't have a daughter, but this was so traumatic
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for me because I said,
this could be my little sister.
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This could be my child. She was in her school uniform.
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I'm the tiniest little person you could ever, beautiful young lady.
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And she came in to see us. She was still
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in high school.
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She told lawyers she was 14 at the time of
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the rape.
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She was scared, but she shared her story. She was brave.
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And her reason was that she didn't want it to
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happen to other people. She wanted to get that release
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of not having the secret anymore. Well, it has been
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very traumatic for them, especially when they have to keep
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telling the story, you know. They've had to repeat their
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stories a few times, even to us to make sure
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that this is consistent information that they're giving us.
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For many of the girls and young women invited to
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Nygaard's estate, visits began with registration.
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To get into Bethlehem, whole community, your name has to
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be on a list. You have to know who you're
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going to, and they check the list. It's a very
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secured area.
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Natasha Codner worked at Nygaard Key for years, beginning in 2003.
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Once they.
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Arrive, you sign in, your name, your email address. your
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telephone contact, your address, and also we take two mouth shots,
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like a head shot and a full body shot.
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Though she was a coordinator in the Corporate Communications Department,
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Natasha says part of her job was to find an
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endless supply of young women to spend time with Nygaard.
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And just as we signed him in, you send him
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an email, he'll be at his computer waiting to see
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the email of what girl's coming and who we already register.
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And he will have to give you the okay to say, well, okay,
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she's nice, let her in and so forth. But if
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she isn't slim, under 110 to 12 pounds and looks
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like a model, he'll make you turn them back around
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and say, no, you can't. And he'll say, give them
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an F in story. You don't know what to do.
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So you had to make up a story, tell a
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lot of lies, just to cover for him.
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Since the late 80s, NYGARD staff have maintained a database
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of the young women and girls who visit NYGARD Key,
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a database used to invite them to come again.
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If you live in New York, Canada, L.A., and you
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come to the Bahamas and visit, we have your contacts.
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And we have thousands and thousands of girls in the
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Bahamian contacts. When Mr. Nygaard is in town, my typical
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day will start off by calling him 7 a.m. and
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now 10 a.m. you'll have to start recruiting young ladies
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to come over for dinner for 7 o'clock that night.
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So basically all day you would be on the phone
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calling girls, trying to get them to come over, inviting
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them for dinner. Every night, some will tell you they're coming,
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but they don't show up, so you'll have to Keep
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calling them. He makes you call them every hour or
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two hours to confirm that they're coming and they're on
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their way. Lots say no, but you have to convince
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them that they're coming to a nice sit-down, fine dining
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setting and so forth. So you have to convince some,
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and some will say, okay, no problem. But some, you'll
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have to convince them to come back. Typically, from Monday
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to Friday, I'll have to look for like about 10
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to 12 girls for dinner. But on a Sunday, you'll
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have to look for 150 to 200 girls to attend
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a pamper party that happens every Sunday.
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Pamper parties. That was Nygaard's name for these Sunday gatherings.
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They were a Nygaard tradition, open almost exclusively to female guests.
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It starts from 3 o'clock, but the gate opens at 2.
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So at 2 p.m., we'll have everything set up at
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the door, manicure, pedicure. You can get your massages. You
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can play volleyball. All you can eat and drink, and
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then they'll be there all day. And you'll also
tell them,
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come in your swim attire because it's a beach event.
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So we get them the dress skimpy and sexy and
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the bikini.
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Natasha says for those who didn't have the appropriate swimwear,
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Nygaard had a stockpile of Brazilian-cut bikinis to hand out.
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They would eat, drink, drink rum, party, go in the
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swimming pool, the sauna. As soon as the sun sets,
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the disco would start and he would tell everybody to
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make their way to the disco. And that's where more
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rum is served. You'll see them be drinking a lot
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and Taking off tops and dancing and having a good time.
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Those good times rolled long into the night.
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The party don't stop. The disco don't stop. The music
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don't stop playing. Sometimes before six o'clock Monday morning, you
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still hear the music playing in the disco. People are
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back and forth to his room.
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Natasha says when Nygaard had a guest in his room
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A security guard was at the door, blocking entry to others.
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He goes back and forth all night with different girls.
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The hunt was always on to find new girls and
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women to come to the pamper parties. And they had
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to fit Nygaard's specifications. Daneth Cartwright.
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I think he definitely had a profile of the type
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of women that he wanted. A lot of them were
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very dark-skinned. So he obviously liked dark-skinned women. They were
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00:15:14.029 --> 00:15:17.230
very slim at the time because, you know, they'll show
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00:15:17.250 --> 00:15:20.309
you pictures of what they looked like back then. And
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00:15:20.370 --> 00:15:22.980
they could easily be models. They were beautiful young girls.
245
00:15:23.980 --> 00:15:25.779
And where did they come from, most of them?
246
00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:29.799
A lot of them are from the inner city. So
247
00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:33.600
for these girls, being invited is like a treat. Oh,
248
00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.139
my gosh. You look forward to it. You want to
249
00:15:36.179 --> 00:15:37.259
go to those parties.
250
00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:37.350
Yes.
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00:15:40.549 --> 00:15:44.429
Them getting to leave a home where they probably don't
252
00:15:44.509 --> 00:15:50.110
have running water inside, you know, their circumstances differed. Their
253
00:15:50.129 --> 00:15:53.039
parents couldn't pay the light bill. They were probably living
254
00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:56.419
in darkness. And you get invited to go to where
255
00:15:56.500 --> 00:15:59.279
the rich and famous live, you're not going to turn
256
00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:03.419
that down. In fact, one person described his bedroom as
257
00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:05.340
bigger than her entire house.
258
00:16:08.950 --> 00:16:11.830
But, I asked Aneth, how did these girls end up
259
00:16:11.870 --> 00:16:14.169
at Nygaard's private estate in the first place?
260
00:16:16.330 --> 00:16:21.019
Okay, so they were mainly recruited by other girls. Some
261
00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:22.200
of them were his staff.
262
00:16:24.059 --> 00:16:25.820
At one point, there was even a shuttle bus that
263
00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.460
transported partygoers to and from the quay.
264
00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:34.789
And then there were others who were invited through various events.
265
00:16:35.230 --> 00:16:39.370
There was a popular nightclub that they would visit. And
266
00:16:39.450 --> 00:16:41.710
he would take girls with him and they will invite
267
00:16:41.730 --> 00:16:44.750
some of the girls to the pamper parties. Oh, you're beautiful.
268
00:16:45.490 --> 00:16:48.549
We're inviting you to a party on Sunday. I have
269
00:16:48.620 --> 00:16:52.340
heard of persons being recruited through schools as well. And
270
00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:56.700
his store was a place for recruiting some of these girls. Now,
271
00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:59.120
there are some high schools that are in the vicinity
272
00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:00.799
of where his store was located.
273
00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:05.740
That's the store in Marathon Mall, which is right smack
274
00:17:05.779 --> 00:17:09.210
in between two large public schools. one of them a
275
00:17:09.250 --> 00:17:12.890
junior high. And what about social media?
276
00:17:14.390 --> 00:17:18.910
Oh yes, it was frequently used. In particular, Facebook was
277
00:17:19.049 --> 00:17:22.819
used to recruit girls. They would send them messages inviting
278
00:17:22.859 --> 00:17:26.039
them to the pamper party. And there was a page
279
00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:28.079
that was created specifically for that.
280
00:17:29.859 --> 00:17:32.480
As part of our investigation, we obtained hundreds of these
281
00:17:32.539 --> 00:17:38.000
Facebook exchanges. Here's how many began. Hello, how are you?
282
00:17:38.539 --> 00:17:41.220
You are invited to this Sunday's pamper party at Nygaard Quay.
283
00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:45.339
There will be free food, massages, manicures, jet boat rides,
284
00:17:45.539 --> 00:17:48.400
and much more. You are allowed as many guests as
285
00:17:48.420 --> 00:17:54.099
you want. However, you are only allowed female guests. Other
286
00:17:54.140 --> 00:17:59.029
messages make clear that that wasn't Nygaard's only restriction. You
287
00:17:59.049 -->
00:18:01.490
have to be sexy, pretty, and slim, due to the
288
00:18:01.549 --> 00:18:05.170
fact that we will be scouting for models. And on
289
00:18:05.210 --> 00:18:08.980
the rare occasions male guests were allowed... there were conditions.
290
00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.809
No men are allowed unless they come in a car
291
00:18:12.849 --> 00:18:19.069
with five sexy females. In the Bahamas, I met another
292
00:18:19.130 --> 00:18:22.990
young woman who we will refer to as Jane Doe No. 3.
293
00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:25.299
She says it was a Nygaard employee who invited her
294
00:18:25.339 --> 00:18:25.819
to the key.
295
00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:33.779
She was a neighborhood person that frequented the neighborhood like
296
00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:38.130
every other day. And she told us that We could,
297
00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:40.470
if we wanted to go to the Quay to make
298
00:18:40.549 --> 00:18:45.329
money for the weekend, me and all of the girls
299
00:18:45.390 --> 00:18:46.930
decided that we'd all do it.
300
00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:51.900
Another Nygaard employee drives her to the Quay, along with
301
00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:52.500
four others.
302
00:18:54.460 --> 00:18:56.359
I have never been on that side of the island,
303
00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:58.299
so it was amazing. I was excited.
304
00:18:58.819 --> 00:19:02.980
Never saw so many beautiful palm trees, a lot of
305
00:19:03.180 --> 00:19:04.519
waterfront properties.
306
00:19:04.900 --> 00:19:05.859
Everything was just beautiful.
307
00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:09.599
It was so beautiful, something I'd never seen before.
308
00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:14.980
She arrives at Nygaard's estate to find a party in
309
00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:15.559
full swing.
310
00:19:17.059 --> 00:19:19.440
Saw a lot of people come in there. Those were partying,
311
00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:20.779
those were just walking around.
312
00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:26.299
The employee who'd invited her to the key takes her
313
00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:27.160
to Nygaard's room.
314
00:19:29.539 --> 00:19:34.319
She took me into this area, up the stairway. And
315
00:19:34.339 --> 00:19:36.509
when I walk into the room, He told me that
316
00:19:36.549 --> 00:19:42.230
I could have a seat. He offered me a glass
317
00:19:42.269 --> 00:19:45.950
of wine, which I never drank the whole thing, just
318
00:19:46.009 --> 00:19:46.490
a little bit.
319
00:19:47.150 --> 00:19:50.880
He asked what I wanted to do. when I grew up.
320
00:19:52.259 --> 00:19:55.700
He asked about me signing for a modeling contract.
321
00:19:56.819 --> 00:20:00.940
And some other questions, like, it was personal questions, what
322
00:20:00.980 --> 00:20:02.400
I can't remember every single thing.
323
00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:05.890
Nygaard asked if she had had sex before. She said no.
324
00:20:07.529 --> 00:20:13.049
After a few moments of answering questions. I felt really nauseous.
325
00:20:13.309 --> 00:20:16.869
I felt sick, like I wasn't myself. He said, let's
326
00:20:16.910 --> 00:20:21.549
go into, it was a bedroom area. It was floral sheeting.
327
00:20:21.930 --> 00:20:25.150
I could remember there was a very large, like a
328
00:20:25.190 --> 00:20:28.349
mirror in the ceiling. There was a bay view where
329
00:20:28.369 --> 00:20:30.849
you could see directly. There was like, the room was
330
00:20:30.890 --> 00:20:34.750
surrounded by water. He told me to sit onto the bed.
331
00:20:34.769 --> 00:20:38.569
He was pulling on my arm and stuff, and I
332
00:20:39.190 --> 00:20:45.009
I felt so uncomfortable. I was confused. My head started spinning.
333
00:20:45.170 --> 00:20:46.990
I felt like I wanted to throw up, and it
334
00:20:47.029 --> 00:20:51.289
wasn't coming up. And he started pushing on me, and
335
00:20:51.309 --> 00:20:55.829
I started saying, stop, stop. And like I say, feeling
336
00:20:55.869 --> 00:20:59.329
the way I felt, it was more like I was
337
00:20:59.650 --> 00:21:05.839
doing 100%, but my body was feeling otherwise. I hadn't
338
00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:09.930
felt that way before, not ever. I started saying stop,
339
00:21:10.029 --> 00:21:13.410
he stopped, so I thought it was the end. He
340
00:21:13.450 --> 00:21:17.690
went into an area of the room, pulled out a drawer,
341
00:21:17.970 --> 00:21:19.039
and he got something.
342
00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:20.099
His back was turned to.
343
00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:23.619
Me, and I was, it was like, you know, looking
344
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:26.619
at something, like everything was just spinning and rotating.
345
00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:31.400
And he came back towards me. I had on a sweatpants.
346
00:21:32.529 --> 00:21:35.970
He started pulling down on my sweatpants, and he took
347
00:21:36.009 --> 00:21:37.670
his penis and it penetrated me.
348
00:21:43.190 --> 00:21:47.150
He held one of my hands and I screamed stop, stop,
349
00:21:47.450 --> 00:21:47.890
and stop.
350
00:21:47.930 --> 00:21:49.880
And it took him about 10 to 15 minutes before
351
00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:52.420
he actually came to a complete stop.
352
00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:57.160
And he seemed to be very, very angry.
353
00:21:57.660 --> 00:21:59.599
I remember at one point in time he made a
354
00:21:59.619 --> 00:22:03.059
comment like, why are you acting so afraid as if
355
00:22:03.079 --> 00:22:05.500
you don't know what was supposed to happen? Like I
356
00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:07.039
was supposed to be a part of this plan that
357
00:22:07.099 --> 00:22:11.480
I had no recollection of. And he threw an envelope
358
00:22:11.539 --> 00:22:13.509
onto the bed and he Ran out of the room
359
00:22:13.549 --> 00:22:14.150
in a rage.
360
00:22:15.950 --> 00:22:21.150
I was feeling sick, definitely. I was scared. I was confused.
361
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:26.400
Just like everything was going on. I ran into this
362
00:22:26.859 --> 00:22:30.079
bathroom area and I locked the door. And then I
363
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:31.539
knocked on the bathroom door.
364
00:22:33.339 --> 00:22:35.779
The Nygaard employee had returned to lead her out of
365
00:22:35.819 --> 00:22:38.559
the room. She handed her approximately 200 U.S.
366
00:22:38.579 --> 00:22:38.779
Dollars.
367
00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:43.500
And I was confused. I didn't ask them no questions.
368
00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.859
I just wanted to get away from there. I quickly
369
00:22:47.220 --> 00:22:50.119
ran out of there. I didn't talk to anybody in
370
00:22:50.140 --> 00:22:52.230
my driving room. I didn't talk to anybody.
371
00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:54.730
When I ran home. I just isolated myself from everybody.
372
00:22:58.589 --> 00:23:01.490
For those who worked at Nygaard Key, like Natasha Codner,
373
00:23:01.930 --> 00:23:03.789
exits like these were a familiar sight.
374
00:23:05.430 --> 00:23:09.309
When they come down, the next morning leaving, like 7,
375
00:23:09.309 --> 00:23:12.220
8 o'clock in the morning, they look But Jane Doe No.
376
00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:12.859
3 had no.
377
00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:16.039
Idea there had been others like her, and she endured
378
00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:18.279
the trauma alone. Well, the next day I was still sick.
379
00:23:18.299 --> 00:23:19.960
This time I actually saw.
380
00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:45.329
Things that happened afterwards, like I had bleeding down below.
381
00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:46.730
It was just real awful.
382
00:23:46.769 --> 00:23:49.630
I was throwing up. I still felt as if all
383
00:23:49.650 --> 00:23:50.950
I wanted to do was lay in my bed.
384
00:23:52.430 --> 00:23:54.170
She was 15 years old.
385
00:23:55.869 --> 00:23:57.329
I have never been with a mom before.
386
00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:01.910
It was so forceful. It was something not intended to happen.
387
00:24:02.529 --> 00:24:04.450
I think people would say, what do you think is
388
00:24:04.470 --> 00:24:06.519
going to happen when you go into a room with someone?
389
00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:09.000
But that's not how I looked at it.
390
00:24:10.930 --> 00:24:13.240
It would be years until Jane Doe 3 learned of
391
00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:16.940
the many others. Today, she says she isn't surprised that
392
00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:19.180
the number of accusers is steadily growing.
393
00:24:20.599 --> 00:24:22.759
No one does something for the first time and no
394
00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:25.869
one just stops. You continue to do it because you're
395
00:24:25.890 --> 00:24:27.849
continuing to get away with it all the time.
396
00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.289
Early morning. on a Manhattan sidewalk, a shooting caught on
397
00:24:42.309 --> 00:24:43.150
surveillance video.
398
00:24:43.690 --> 00:24:47.509
It was an assassination-style killing, and everybody saw it.
399
00:24:47.769 --> 00:24:50.950
Now, as Luigi Mangione prepares to stand trial for the
400
00:24:51.009 --> 00:24:55.480
murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, which he denies, a
401
00:24:55.519 --> 00:24:59.900
new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside
402
00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:04.849
this captivating case. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer.
403
00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:09.289
Listen to Burden of Proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get
404
00:25:09.329 --> 00:25:09.970
your podcasts.
405
00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:18.880
Across decades, thousands of young women and girls were lured
406
00:25:18.900 --> 00:25:23.039
to Nygaard's estate. With an invite to a party. With
407
00:25:23.079 --> 00:25:26.460
an offer of work. With a chance to be a model.
408
00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:30.940
And many came from Nassau communities, like Over the Hill.
409
00:25:33.789 --> 00:25:38.700
Over the Hill is a location. It's a location... and demographic.
410
00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:43.900
Nahaja Black is a longtime Bahamian radio host. Her call-in
411
00:25:43.940 --> 00:25:48.619
show tackles local politics and current affairs. In British colonial times,
412
00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:52.519
Over the Hill was a settlement for freed slaves. It's
413
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.759
an area rich in history, but its buildings and streets
414
00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:57.099
have fallen into disrepair.
415
00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:02.750
So back then, it wasn't as impoverished as it is now.
416
00:26:03.549 --> 00:26:06.529
Back then, that was where all of us, you know,
417
00:26:06.569 --> 00:26:10.210
as good, hardworking Black people would be. But today, Over
418
00:26:10.230 --> 00:26:11.529
the Hill is seen as impoverished.
419
00:26:11.970 --> 00:26:12.410
The ghetto.
420
00:26:12.430 --> 00:26:14.190
Because once you've made it, you move out.
421
00:26:14.089 --> 00:26:14.730
Of Over the Hill.
422
00:26:17.099 --> 00:26:19.319
That neighborhood is only a few blocks from the beach
423
00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:24.019
and luxury hotels. It's mostly a collection of tiny, run-down homes,
424
00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:27.400
crammed side by side, stretching as far as the eye
425
00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:27.839
can see.
426
00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:33.980
Listen, it's not a brochure. They never show it to
427
00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:37.660
you in the brochure. You will see dilapidated buildings. You
428
00:26:37.700 --> 00:26:41.519
will see two and three little houses in a yard,
429
00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:45.200
yards that don't have grass, but, you know, dust. You
430
00:26:45.220 --> 00:26:49.480
will see outside water pumps, roads that are too small
431
00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:52.809
because they were meant for horse and carriage. You will
432
00:26:52.900 --> 00:26:56.630
see kids outside running about, some that should be in school.
433
00:26:56.690 --> 00:26:59.450
And you would see people who are living paycheck to paycheck.
434
00:27:01.609 --> 00:27:04.990
Nahaja had heard rumors about Peter Nygaard's pamper parties when
435
00:27:05.049 --> 00:27:08.190
she herself was a teen, some 20 years ago.
436
00:27:09.730 --> 00:27:13.049
It wasn't something that was a
big discussion other than, oh, well,
437
00:27:13.250 --> 00:27:15.910
Nygaard's having these pamper parties and all these little girls
438
00:27:15.990 --> 00:27:20.700
up there modeling and, you know, scantily clad. And I
439
00:27:20.740 --> 00:27:23.460
thought it was just like these modeling sort of parties
440
00:27:23.480 --> 00:27:25.640
you would see on TV, like E! News, you know,
441
00:27:25.900 --> 00:27:28.980
that sort of way. And then later on, you would
442
00:27:29.019 --> 00:27:36.170
hear a little bit more about young girls and sex.
443
00:27:39.009 --> 00:27:43.470
When allegations of Nygaard's sexual misconduct hit the headlines in 2020,
444
00:27:43.470 --> 00:27:47.329
she right away thought of one place. And what's your
445
00:27:47.349 --> 00:27:50.619
understanding of Peter Nygaard's connection to the community over the hill?
446
00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.299
Oh, using our poverty against us.
447
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:55.660
That's what it is.
448
00:27:56.720 --> 00:28:00.000
Him using and grooming and sending people into the ghettos
449
00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:01.259
to get somebody's child.
450
00:28:02.309 --> 00:28:05.849
How vulnerable are the young women in the Bahamas because
451
00:28:05.869 --> 00:28:07.269
of these conditions that you describe?
452
00:28:10.009 --> 00:28:14.039
Well, I gather, not I gather, I know, very vulnerable,
453
00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:17.460
very vulnerable. I mean, I can tell you stories of
454
00:28:17.539 --> 00:28:20.140
myself when I was in school. I remember one of
455
00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:22.799
my friends in this public school said to me that she,
456
00:28:22.819 --> 00:28:25.400
when she was distraught, and it was the first time
457
00:28:25.420 --> 00:28:27.960
I'd ever encountered anything like this in terms of a decision,
458
00:28:28.869 --> 00:28:32.609
that we as 15-year-olds were, would be facing. And she
459
00:28:33.539 --> 00:28:36.380
came to me and said, Nahaja, my mom wants me
460
00:28:36.420 --> 00:28:38.980
to sleep with her boyfriend so that we can get
461
00:28:39.019 --> 00:28:45.480
a new fridge. To this day, that still sits with me.
462
00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:47.900
I'm like, no, you can't.
463
00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:49.220
No.
464
00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:56.460
I mean, people who don't necessarily understand the context and
465
00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:00.339
the situation the way you do might ask, Where are
466
00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:03.569
the parents? Where were the parents in the situations with
467
00:29:03.589 --> 00:29:06.490
these young women as young as 14 ending up at
468
00:29:06.549 --> 00:29:09.009
Nygaard Key? How do you answer that question?
469
00:29:11.250 --> 00:29:13.779
I think a lot of us who ask that question
470
00:29:14.440 --> 00:29:18.779
are fortunate to ask that question because probably you had
471
00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:23.819
parents who and a life that never would have allowed
472
00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:25.789
that to happen
to be these decisions.
473
00:29:25.849 --> 00:29:26.390
You know what I mean?
474
00:29:26.869 --> 00:29:30.119
We have been fortunate and blessed enough to not understand,
475
00:29:30.140 --> 00:29:36.210
to not relate. There are mothers who are in those
476
00:29:36.450 --> 00:29:40.000
levels of poverty. They were molested as children. and it
477
00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:43.700
may have been continual and consistent and no reprieve, no help.
478
00:29:44.299 --> 00:29:48.039
So the parents are broken children who just became adults
479
00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:52.269
and we're asking broken adults who were messed up from
480
00:29:52.309 --> 00:29:55.410
children to be good parents. And not all can do that,
481
00:29:55.430 --> 00:29:58.410
but a lot have. And they are doctors and lawyers
482
00:29:58.490 --> 00:30:02.769
and teachers. Bus drivers, a lot have overcome and they
483
00:30:02.789 --> 00:30:05.170
protect their children. And then there's still a good bunch
484
00:30:05.190 --> 00:30:07.609
that don't and haven't because it's been so traumatic.
485
00:30:07.630 --> 00:30:10.269
And I guess I wonder too about those who are
486
00:30:10.309 --> 00:30:13.990
bus drivers or might have multiple jobs and trying to
487
00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:15.140
kind of hold things together.
488
00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:18.460
Oh, heck yeah. Oh, that happens all the time. When
489
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:20.420
you have to trust your kids in a place where
490
00:30:20.460 --> 00:30:22.460
you don't trust your kids to be, but you don't
491
00:30:22.500 --> 00:30:25.519
have anyone to watch them. We've had a lot of
492
00:30:25.619 --> 00:30:28.950
issues where, you know, The godparent or the uncle or
493
00:30:29.009 --> 00:30:33.150
the brother or the pastor or somebody takes advantage because
494
00:30:33.190 --> 00:30:35.289
mommy has to go to work. And we are a
495
00:30:35.329 --> 00:30:37.710
tourism nation, so you have a lot of women and
496
00:30:37.750 --> 00:30:38.650
a lot of parents.
497
00:30:38.410 --> 00:30:39.470
Who work shifts.
498
00:30:41.220 --> 00:30:49.519
First world questions or ideals presented on third world realities
499
00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:51.299
presents conflict.
500
00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:58.000
The lawsuit alleges that the envelopes of cash given to
501
00:30:58.039 --> 00:31:01.619
Peter Nygaard's victims contained more money than most of them
502
00:31:01.660 --> 00:31:04.180
had seen at any one time in their lifetimes.
503
00:31:06.259 --> 00:31:08.700
That's very common throughout. A lot of them got money,
504
00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:10.650
and I guess it was hush money, money for them
505
00:31:10.690 --> 00:31:13.609
not to say anything. We had instances where the money
506
00:31:13.650 --> 00:31:18.069
was rejected, and there are instances when they took the
507
00:31:18.109 --> 00:31:20.089
money and went back for more.
508
00:31:23.869 --> 00:31:26.589
While many say Nygaard exploited the poverty of the islands,
509
00:31:27.029 --> 00:31:29.410
I wondered, did he also take advantage of the country's
510
00:31:29.539 --> 00:31:35.519
attitudes towards sex and sexual violence? I'm also wondering about consent.
511
00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:37.640
How is that talked about?
512
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:40.460
Wow. Okay.
513
00:31:41.299 --> 00:31:45.059
How is consent talked about in the Bahamas? Men, we
514
00:31:45.079 --> 00:31:48.319
have to protect men from lying women. That's the whole
515
00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:53.730
argument I see here. And also that men... in this
516
00:31:53.769 --> 00:31:57.349
country can't be held accountable for the fact that a
517
00:31:57.390 --> 00:32:00.509
young girl looks like a woman, even if she's not
518
00:32:00.549 --> 00:32:00.950
of age.
519
00:32:01.450 --> 00:32:03.069
Like, oh, she's so fast.
520
00:32:03.190 --> 00:32:07.589
Oh, and fast means fresh, and fresh means sexually forward
521
00:32:07.630 --> 00:32:12.359
or advanced. Listen, every time I think about these things,
522
00:32:12.430 --> 00:32:15.480
it breaks my heart. We have this issue right now
523
00:32:15.579 --> 00:32:18.779
where we have a lot of young girls, 13, 14,
524
00:32:18.779 --> 00:32:21.400
sometimes you'll say, the police will say, you know, they're missing.
525
00:32:22.170 --> 00:32:24.009
And we would find out later that they are by
526
00:32:24.069 --> 00:32:26.430
some older man's house. And so the story is she
527
00:32:26.450 --> 00:32:26.990
by man.
528
00:32:27.390 --> 00:32:28.369
This is our vernacular.
529
00:32:29.049 --> 00:32:30.490
She by man. She too fresh.
530
00:32:30.529 --> 00:32:31.210
She too forward.
531
00:32:31.890 --> 00:32:35.279
Never taking into account that the young girl may have
532
00:32:35.299 --> 00:32:35.880
been groomed.
533
00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:37.200
One.
534
00:32:37.339 --> 00:32:37.599
Two.
535
00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:41.420
What is the penalty for the man? Why is his
536
00:32:41.500 --> 00:32:44.799
face not being paraded on the news? Why is it
537
00:32:44.839 --> 00:32:45.759
always the child?
538
00:32:47.900 --> 00:32:51.420
If grooming is rarely openly discussed, there's an even bigger
539
00:32:51.460 --> 00:32:56.869
taboo around the subject of rape. How is it related
540
00:32:56.910 --> 00:32:58.170
to rape, the word hush?
541
00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:04.000
Hush him out. Don't talk about it. It is what
542
00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:04.259
it is.
543
00:33:04.380 --> 00:33:04.819
It happened.
544
00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:06.160
You ain't gonna get no justice.
545
00:33:06.180 --> 00:33:06.440
Hush.
546
00:33:07.059 --> 00:33:10.660
And depending on who raped you, right, you gonna make
547
00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:13.980
this a big thing. It's not a big thing. You
548
00:33:14.029 --> 00:33:17.250
gonna make it bigger than it is. It saddens me
549
00:33:18.170 --> 00:33:22.170
to know how many women will today say that they
550
00:33:22.210 --> 00:33:26.690
were raped or sexually abused, and
when they told their parents,
551
00:33:26.730 --> 00:33:29.789
their parents told them, listen, keep it to yourself. We'll
552
00:33:29.809 --> 00:33:31.829
deal with it inside house. We'll deal with it as
553
00:33:31.869 --> 00:33:35.829
a family. Or you're telling a lie. Daddy didn't do
554
00:33:35.869 --> 00:33:36.309
this to you.
555
00:33:38.210 --> 00:33:41.109
What Nahaja says is backed by others in the Bahamas,
556
00:33:41.829 --> 00:33:45.390
including women's rights advocates and sex educators we've spoken to,
557
00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:50.349
and the government's own task force. which was created to tackle, quote,
558
00:33:50.609 --> 00:33:53.029
endemic levels of gender-based violence.
559
00:33:55.150 --> 00:33:57.130
And you have police officers, you can go into the
560
00:33:57.170 --> 00:33:59.210
station and depending on who it is in society, if
561
00:33:59.269 --> 00:34:04.289
it's some politician's son, if it's some business owner's child,
562
00:34:04.329 --> 00:34:07.789
you know, whatever, they won't even take your complaint.
563
00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:14.539
In the Bahamas, there's a documented lack of faith in
564
00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:19.250
local law enforcement. In 2018, a local watchdog reported that
565
00:34:19.289 --> 00:34:22.889
the Royal Bahamas Police Force was viewed by citizens as
566
00:34:22.929 --> 00:34:26.949
the country's most corrupt public institution and had the highest
567
00:34:27.050 --> 00:34:33.239
bribery rate reported across all public services. How much confidence
568
00:34:33.300 --> 00:34:36.960
does the average person have in their local police force?
569
00:34:40.780 --> 00:34:45.420
We have confidence that they will, if they need to,
570
00:34:45.949 --> 00:34:49.250
They will harass you if you're a minor or a
571
00:34:49.309 --> 00:34:54.639
regular citizen. We have confidence that most days they're probably
572
00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:57.480
sitting down in their office getting fat and not on
573
00:34:57.500 --> 00:35:01.500
the road. But what we aren't confident in is justice.
574
00:35:02.380 --> 00:35:05.780
And it's unfortunate because there are good officers. But the
575
00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:09.610
issues of so many poor ones, so many officers who
576
00:35:09.650 --> 00:35:11.929
are being bought off. Oh, my God. Our police force
577
00:35:11.969 --> 00:35:14.769
is not. It needs Jesus.
578
00:35:15.190 --> 00:35:15.349
Yeah.
579
00:35:15.969 --> 00:35:16.690
Let's keep praying.
580
00:35:19.949 --> 00:35:22.510
As is the case in many places, the stigma associated
581
00:35:22.530 --> 00:35:25.769
with sexual assault and mistrust of the police can prevent
582
00:35:25.849 --> 00:35:29.469
victims from reporting their attacks.
583
00:35:30.860 --> 00:35:33.460
In general, when people are raped in the Bahamas, they're
584
00:35:33.480 --> 00:35:35.960
very hesitant to go forward.
585
00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:40.480
While on average, hospitals report treating more than 100 survivors
586
00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:43.119
of rape each year, in 2019, police said there were
587
00:35:43.139 --> 00:35:50.070
just 37 rapes reported to them In a lot of instances,
588
00:35:50.210 --> 00:35:51.929
they were telling me about it.
589
00:35:52.030 --> 00:35:54.489
I was the first person that they were telling the
590
00:35:54.530 --> 00:35:55.969
details of what happened.
591
00:35:57.610 --> 00:36:00.670
For Nygaard's victims, there were even more barriers to reporting.
592
00:36:02.139 --> 00:36:05.039
The girls, when they go to the pamper parties, would
593
00:36:05.079 --> 00:36:09.559
see police officers as security. And so who do you
594
00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:11.820
go to if the person who has raped you is
595
00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:14.340
very intimate with the police?
596
00:36:16.139 --> 00:36:20.030
D'Neth says that at his parties, Nygaard flaunted his high-level connections.
597
00:36:21.409 --> 00:36:24.210
Yeah, they thought he was very powerful because it wasn't
598
00:36:24.250 --> 00:36:29.349
just the police. There were politicians and various members of parliament.
599
00:36:29.389 --> 00:36:31.989
So for them, it was furious of seeing this very
600
00:36:32.070 --> 00:36:36.650
powerful man who is so very well connected, both politically
601
00:36:36.710 --> 00:36:42.380
and socially. How do you go against him? They blamed
602
00:36:42.420 --> 00:36:46.550
themselves for having gone to a pamper party. but how
603
00:36:46.590 --> 00:36:49.969
would you know? You go to the pamper party and
604
00:36:50.010 --> 00:36:53.460
let your guard down because you're so naive. In fact,
605
00:36:53.539 --> 00:36:55.340
one girl said, I saw him on TV and thought
606
00:36:55.380 --> 00:36:58.500
he was this person who would protect me, not someone
607
00:36:58.940 --> 00:37:02.039
who would try to hurt me. And so that's how
608
00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:06.050
it is. Rape is not always someone walking down an
609
00:37:06.210 --> 00:37:09.230
alley and someone pull them to the side. And that's
610
00:37:09.269 --> 00:37:11.829
how some of the girls thought rape was. They didn't
611
00:37:11.949 --> 00:37:15.269
realize that, look, I am 14 years old. And even
612
00:37:15.329 --> 00:37:18.429
if I said yes, or I said no, but he
613
00:37:18.489 --> 00:37:21.170
forced me a little and it happened, then it is rape.
614
00:37:21.750 --> 00:37:25.199
They think because they went there, they caused it on themselves.
615
00:37:25.820 --> 00:37:30.300
And that's very common. And there was one in particular
616
00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:34.099
who was raped before. And because of how the police
617
00:37:34.139 --> 00:37:38.380
responded to her, they victimized her all over again. So
618
00:37:38.400 --> 00:37:41.260
they were asking questions like, where were you? Why were
619
00:37:41.300 --> 00:37:43.199
you there? What were you wearing?
620
00:37:45.659 --> 00:37:49.239
In this, the police might not be alone. When I
621
00:37:49.280
--> 00:37:51.429
was in the Bahamas to report on this story in
622
00:37:51.489 --> 00:37:55.010
early 2020, I came across some of these attitudes myself.
623
00:37:57.110 --> 00:37:59.429
I mean, I remember going out for a run one
624
00:37:59.469 --> 00:38:00.909
day while I was there, and it was on the
625
00:38:00.949 --> 00:38:03.429
front page of the newspapers every day. And there was
626
00:38:03.449 --> 00:38:06.030
an older woman on the side of the road selling newspapers.
627
00:38:06.369 --> 00:38:07.750
And I asked her, I said, what do you think
628
00:38:07.889 --> 00:38:09.869
about this Mr. Nygaard person on the front cover of
629
00:38:09.889 --> 00:38:13.670
the newspaper? And she said, oh, those girls, they're all lying.
630
00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:14.929
They just want money.
631
00:38:16.409 --> 00:38:17.150
Oh, yeah.
632
00:38:17.309 --> 00:38:20.610
We encountered that a number of times in the Bahamas.
633
00:38:20.630 --> 00:38:21.409
Where does that come from?
634
00:38:23.349 --> 00:38:26.239
Man, that's a great question. And that's one of my
635
00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:30.360
biggest disappointments, the lack of women supporting women. But I
636
00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:37.059
would say that I would hope that younger educated Bahamians
637
00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:41.449
don't share that sentiment from the women that you encountered.
638
00:38:43.530 --> 00:38:45.889
One of the things that angers me is that we always, no,
639
00:38:45.909 --> 00:38:47.789
you're talking about what the Mohammeds are foreigners. No, I
640
00:38:47.809 --> 00:38:50.190
don't have time for that because whilst you're worrying about
641
00:38:50.230 --> 00:38:52.929
how we are perceived, the truth is that we have
642
00:38:52.989 --> 00:38:56.840
issues and we need protections and rights. However, what always
643
00:38:56.880 --> 00:39:00.380
gives me hope is that I'm not alone. I'm not
644
00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:02.679
the only one who sees and that says we got
645
00:39:02.699 --> 00:39:05.219
to tell the truth. What gives me hope and why
646
00:39:05.239 --> 00:39:07.670
I love being Bahamian is that we are hopeful. The
647
00:39:07.730 --> 00:39:11.010
processes that we've been using has failed us. And so
648
00:39:11.030 --> 00:39:12.829
we need to change. And so The goal is to
649
00:39:12.849 --> 00:39:15.920
not be hopeless and to laugh in.
650
00:39:15.860 --> 00:39:16.389
The midst of it.
651
00:39:17.639 --> 00:39:20.219
But it is the truth that the Bahamas is still
652
00:39:20.300 --> 00:39:23.860
fighting with a fake beauty. We call it open secret.
653
00:39:24.489 --> 00:39:29.690
We have this open secret of not protecting our women
654
00:39:29.710 --> 00:39:33.239
and children. in this country it's easy to judge us
655
00:39:33.260 --> 00:39:37.239
but not taking into context that we are still struggling
656
00:39:37.280 --> 00:39:39.590
with the sins of our past and the forefathers and
657
00:39:39.769 --> 00:39:43.110
colonizers
and the things that we consistently have to deal
658
00:39:43.130 --> 00:39:48.010
with because we have not changed the system of our
659
00:39:48.090 --> 00:39:51.559
oppressions So we look good out in the sun, buddy.
660
00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:54.800
We look great, buddy. Inside, we're rotting to the core.
661
00:39:55.280 --> 00:39:56.980
And we need some serious healing and some help.
662
00:40:01.300 --> 00:40:04.329
As we continued investigating this story, it became clear that
663
00:40:04.469 --> 00:40:07.250
even if a girl or young woman overcame these obstacles
664
00:40:07.829 --> 00:40:10.630
and reported being raped to the police, when it came
665
00:40:10.670 --> 00:40:14.650
to Nygaard, it might not have made a difference. Here's
666
00:40:14.690 --> 00:40:15.820
Natasha Codner again.
667
00:40:17.829 --> 00:40:20.829
The police officers used to come on a daily basis
668
00:40:20.909 --> 00:40:25.139
for envelopes, but Mondays would be the biggest day because
669
00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:28.880
that's the payout day for the week. It was money
670
00:40:28.940 --> 00:40:33.219
in the envelopes because whenever I issue an envelope, we
671
00:40:33.300 --> 00:40:37.980
always deal with cash transaction and no check because he
672
00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:39.739
said he don't want nothing tied to him.
673
00:40:41.429 --> 00:40:44.230
If you didn't catch that, Natasha says police were paid
674
00:40:44.269 --> 00:40:48.940
in cash to avoid a paper trail. There's no indication
675
00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:50.980
that the Jane Does we spoke to for this episode
676
00:40:51.099 --> 00:40:54.300
knew about these payments. But the question is, would it
677
00:40:54.320 --> 00:40:54.840
have mattered?
678
00:40:56.400 --> 00:40:59.260
I felt afraid of everybody. I just wanted to be
679
00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:00.460
by myself all the time.
680
00:41:02.320 --> 00:41:05.409
After Jane Doe No. 3's assault, she told no one
681
00:41:05.570 --> 00:41:06.090
what happened.
682
00:41:06.110 --> 00:41:09.769
I didn't want to keep friends. I didn't want to
683
00:41:09.829 --> 00:41:12.010
talk to boys. I didn't want to do anything.
684
00:41:13.769 --> 00:41:16.329
She simply said she had gone for a job at
685
00:41:16.389 --> 00:41:19.559
Nygaard Quay. But when a young cousin of hers heard
686
00:41:19.780 --> 00:41:22.360
there was a job opportunity, she wanted to go too.
687
00:41:23.699 --> 00:41:25.889
Jane Doe No. 3 tried to convince her not to,
688
00:41:26.909 --> 00:41:27.610
but it didn't work.
689
00:41:29.349 --> 00:41:31.030
She felt like I was trying to shun her from
690
00:41:31.050 --> 00:41:31.789
the opportunity.
691
00:41:33.070 --> 00:41:35.909
Her cousin pushed to go, and she couldn't let her
692
00:41:35.949 --> 00:41:36.429
go alone.
693
00:41:37.789 --> 00:41:41.429
I ran there along with another family member, all because
694
00:41:41.489 --> 00:41:43.840
she wouldn't understand the fact that I was trying to
695
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:46.880
tell her, hey, don't go there because of this without
696
00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:47.739
saying directly.
697
00:41:48.170 --> 00:41:52.809
What was it? Well, it was the same routine, sitting down, eating.
698
00:41:53.230 --> 00:41:55.949
But this time I started to feel sick again. I
699
00:41:55.989 --> 00:42:00.030
went into the bathroom. And she, when I came back,
700
00:42:00.090 --> 00:42:02.780
she was gone. And I started asking, hey, do you
701
00:42:02.820 --> 00:42:03.420
see my cousin?
702
00:42:03.460 --> 00:42:05.579
Do you see my cousin? No one seemed to know.
703
00:42:06.940 --> 00:42:09.920
I left her, not willingly.
704
00:42:12.420 --> 00:42:14.780
Her cousin is known as Jane Doe No. 4 in
705
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:18.050
the lawsuit. In her account, she says she was approached
706
00:42:18.070 --> 00:42:21.969
by Nygaard, asking whether she had ever considered modeling, and
707
00:42:22.010 --> 00:42:25.050
he led her back to his room. There, she says,
708
00:42:25.530 --> 00:42:30.449
she was raped. According to the lawsuit, when it was over,
709
00:42:30.969 --> 00:42:35.710
Nygaard handed her an envelope with $ 5, 600 US dollars. She
710
00:42:35.730 --> 00:42:42.179
was 14 years old. The allegations of Jane Doe's number one, three, four,
711
00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:44.719
and the many others who have come forward have not
712
00:42:44.739 --> 00:42:48.190
been proven in court. Neither have the allegations made by
713
00:42:48.210 --> 00:42:52.030
the witnesses and whistleblowers, people like Natasha Codner.
714
00:42:54.960 --> 00:42:57.699
I can speak the truth. I didn't do anything wrong.
715
00:42:58.820 --> 00:43:02.900
If anybody asks about it, I can tell them my past.
716
00:43:05.719 --> 00:43:09.500
Nygaard, through his representatives, vehemently denies all of it and
717
00:43:09.539 --> 00:43:16.019
says his accusers are lying. Lawyer Daneth Cartwright says the
718
00:43:16.059 --> 00:43:19.000
Jane Does who first came to her continue to suffer.
719
00:43:20.639 --> 00:43:23.679
Oh my. A lot of the girls, I'm not a
720
00:43:23.699 --> 00:43:28.570
psychiatrist or a psychologist, but I'm sure the trajectory that
721
00:43:28.610 --> 00:43:32.309
they're on, for some of them, they started doing poorly
722
00:43:32.449 --> 00:43:34.869
in school. They never went on to college, even if
723
00:43:34.889 --> 00:43:38.130
they had the ability, and some resorted to drinking. There
724
00:43:38.170 --> 00:43:42.570
are a few who started taking substance to numb their pain.
725
00:43:43.280 --> 00:43:48.239
They are not able to form good relationships, meaningful relationships.
726
00:43:48.900 --> 00:43:51.530
And I would want to see the girls receive damages
727
00:43:51.650 --> 00:43:54.710
or some kind of compensation for what they went through
728
00:43:54.869 --> 00:43:57.329
to put their lives back in order. And many of
729
00:43:57.369 --> 00:44:00.150
them don't want that. And they'll tell you, that's
not
730
00:44:00.210 --> 00:44:02.130
my motive. I don't want that. I just want to
731
00:44:02.210 --> 00:44:04.309
see him punished for what he did.
732
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Who is Peter Nygaard? How did a Canadian retail mogul
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rise to such prominence and power in this tiny island nation?
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And ultimately, how did a group of girls and young
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00:44:25.070 --> 00:44:30.639
women without wealth or political influence bring his empire crashing down?
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Coming up on Evil by Design.
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00:44:34.360 --> 00:44:39.719
He's been a criminal for four decades at least. And
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he just got better and better and more extreme and
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uglier and more rampant in his attacks.
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00:44:48.480 --> 00:44:50.519
He said he's richer than God, April.
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00:44:51.360 --> 00:44:52.179
He owns the police.
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00:44:52.659 --> 00:44:53.460
He owns everybody.
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00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:54.719
He owns people.
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00:44:55.860 --> 00:44:59.409
This was the first time a story had been spiked
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00:45:00.070 --> 00:45:05.969
for nefarious reasons that some outside force had intervened.
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00:45:06.730 --> 00:45:09.690
There were hundreds of people over the years that were
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00:45:09.730 --> 00:45:11.949
knowing participants in this enterprise.
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00:45:12.769 --> 00:45:16.250
I'm pleading to the enablers, stop helping this man.
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00:45:17.050 --> 00:45:19.389
He didn't just only break me, he also built me.
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00:45:20.150 --> 00:45:22.449
Because if that didn't happen to me, I would have
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00:45:22.510 --> 00:45:25.809
never had the heart to put the amount of women
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00:45:25.829 --> 00:45:28.389
that I did together to speak up against you.
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00:45:29.369 --> 00:45:32.199
I remember these like seconds really vividly where I'm looking
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00:45:32.219 --> 00:45:34.460
at his eyes because I was thinking to myself, who
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00:45:34.539 --> 00:45:37.449
is this guy? And I said, I think our dad
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00:45:37.489 --> 00:45:38.510
is really, really sick.
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00:45:40.230 --> 00:45:42.110
We as a society need to look at this and say,
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00:45:42.590 --> 00:45:44.320
what are we going to do differently with the next
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00:45:44.440 --> 00:45:47.059
monster that comes along? Because there will be another monster.
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00:45:47.340 --> 00:45:49.460
There's always going to be a Weinstein or an Epstein
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00:45:49.800 --> 00:45:52.119
or a Nygaard. But how we learn to deal with
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00:45:52.199 --> 00:45:55.019
it faster and better, this is just going to go
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00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:56.539
on and on and on and on.
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If anything you've heard in this episode has left you
765
00:46:02.889 --> 00:46:07.590
looking for someone to talk to, please visit cbc.ca slash uncover.
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00:46:08.210 --> 00:46:10.190
We have a number of resources there for those in
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00:46:10.230 --> 00:46:13.969
need of help and support. Evil by Design is a
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00:46:13.989 --> 00:46:17.840
co-production between CBC Podcasts and The Fifth Estate. You can
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00:46:17.900 --> 00:46:21.599
find The Fifth Estate's latest documentary, Peter Nygaard, The Secret Videos,
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00:46:21.900 --> 00:46:26.119
on YouTube. This podcast is written by producer Ashley Mack,
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00:46:26.539 --> 00:46:31.500
associate producer Alina Ghosh, and me, Timothy Sawa, with assistance
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00:46:31.639 --> 00:46:35.030
from Lynette Fortune at The Fifth Estate. Mixing and sound
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00:46:35.070 --> 00:46:38.889
design by Evan Kelly. With technical assistance from Laura Antonelli.
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00:46:39.820 --> 00:46:42.920
For this episode, special thanks goes to Bob McEwen and
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00:46:42.980 --> 00:46:48.179
Alicia Wallace. Emily Connell is our digital producer. Fact-checking by
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00:46:48.260 --> 00:46:52.570
Emily Mathieu and legal advice from Sean Moorman. Original music
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00:46:52.639 --> 00:46:56.929
by Olivia Pasquarelli. Our senior producer at CBC Podcasts is
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00:46:56.989 --> 00:47:00.510
Chris Oak. And our executive producer is Arif Noorani.
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00:47:11.219 --> 00:47:16.059
For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.