Paul Haggis: Oscar-winning filmmaker’s civil trial for rape begins in New York

The jurors heard opening statements and from the plaintiff’s first witness, Nancy Manoogian

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The civil rape trial against Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis has begun in New York.

The lawsuit was filed by Haleigh Breest, a publicist who said the Million Dollar Baby screenwriter lured her to his Manhattan apartment and allegedly raped her after a 2013 movie premiere.

During opening statements on Wednesday (19 October), the plaintiff’s lawyer Zoe Salzman told the jurors that Haggis is “manipulative”.

“The evidence in this case will show Mr Haggis used his storytelling skills and fame to prey on, manipulate and attack vulnerable young women in the film industry,” she said. “He lured Haleigh [to his apartment], manipulated her into being alone and he attacked her.

“He did not stop when she said no. He did not stop when she struggled and resisted.”

Haggis, on the other hand, has accepted that he and Breest did have intercourse but he says it was consensual.

Furthermore, the defense maintained that this rape charge came in retaliation for Haggis’s decision to leave and criticise the Church of Scientology.

Haggis reportedly left the Church of Scientology after 30 years in 2009 over its opposition to gay marriage.

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He has since alleged that leaders of the controversial religion were trying to “find dirt” on him before the rape allegation charge was brought up.

“Scientology is very successful at destroying its enemies without leaving a single fingerprint behind,” Haggis’s defense attorney Priya Chaudhry said in opening remarks.

She alleged her client was targeted by the church because he “did not leave quietly.”

Breest’s attorney disputed the Scientology claim by saying: “Haleigh Breest has nothing to do with Scientology. Scientology has nothing to do with this case.”

After opening statements, the jurors heard from the plaintiff’s first witness, Nancy Manoogian, who alleged in a video deposition that Haggis sexually assaulted her in 1996 when she was a film and television publicist in Canada.

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