Judge expected to give final instructions to jury in Peter Nygard's sex ...

By Staff The Canadian Press

WATCH ABOVE: On Tuesday, lawyers in the Peter Nygard trial made their closing submissions. As Catherine McDonald reports, the crown called Nygard’s memory selective and said he is guilty. The defence argued the prosecution falsely painted a picture of an evil predator.

TORONTO — The judge presiding over Peter Nygard’s sexual assault trial is giving his final instructions to the jury before they begin deliberating their verdict in the case.

Justice Robert Goldstein is telling the jury that their duty is to impartially assess the evidence, using the legal principles he has outlined.

“You should consider carefully and with an open mind all the evidence presented at trial,” Goldstein told the jury. “You are the judges of the facts.”

The jury heard closing arguments from the defence and the Crown on Tuesday after six weeks of testimony and evidence presented in court.

Jurors are expected to begin deliberating on Wednesday afternoon.

Nygard, an 82-year-old former fashion mogul, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement in alleged incidents ranging from the 1980s to mid-2000s.

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Multiple complainants in the trial have alleged they were taken to Nygard’s Toronto headquarters under pretences ranging from tours to job interviews, with encounters ending in a top-floor bedroom suite where they allege they were sexually assaulted.

Nygard denied those allegations as he testified in his own defence and said he has never done the things the five complainants have accused him of.

During cross-examination, the Crown attorney challenged statements Nygard previously made to police and in court, suggesting inconsistencies and contradictions in his remarks.