Harvey Weinstein accuser tells court: ‘I want the jury to know that he is my rapist’
Woman gives third day of testimony
One of the women who has come forward against Harvey Weinstein told the court on Tuesday during his criminal trial: “I want the jury to know that he is my rapist.”
The woman, who alleges that Weinstein raped her, was testifying for the third day. Her testimony was cut short on Monday after she broke down in tears, prompting the judge to halt the proceedings.
Weinstein is accused of raping the woman in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. He has pleaded not guilty and has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. He has also denied retaliating against women.
The woman had sobbed on Monday while reading an email passage about being abused earlier in her life. It was part of a lengthy email she sent in May 2014 to a boyfriend about her relationship with Weinstein.
Resuming questioning on Tuesday, Weinstein lawyer Donna Rotunno revisited the woman’s email to her boyfriend, as well as friendly emails she sent to Weinstein after she alleges the film producer raped her twice in 2013.
In one, the woman asked Weinstein about meeting up for a drink in Los Angeles. Rotunno also asked the woman about accepting Weinstein’s invitation to an Oscar party in 2015, and about her decision to meet with him at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, in 2016 — one of the hotels where she alleges he’d previously raped her.
After that meeting, the woman emailed Weinstein saying: “I feel so fabulous and beautiful. Thank you for everything.”
She testified that Weinstein “was being really nice to me” at the time but said she couldn’t remember if they had sex on that occasion. Weinstein, now 67, was married at the time to fashion designer Georgina Chapman.
At one point, Rotunno asked the woman why she would accept favours from “your rapist”. That’s when the woman turned to jurors and said: “I want the jury to know that he is my rapist.”
Earlier on Tuesday, jurors heard from another supporting witness: an actress who testified that she allegedly felt pressured into having an awkward three-way sexual encounter with Weinstein and the woman he’s charged with raping.
Emanuela Postacchini testified that in February 2013, Weinstein had her meet him and the rape accuser at a Los Angeles-area hotel, where he allegedly tried to persuade the women to have sex with him. Weinstein’s lawyers argued the testimony was irrelevant because there’s no evidence he forced himself on either woman on that occasion.
Postacchini said during the alleged encounter, Weinstein’s accuser went into the bathroom and was “crying in the foetal position on the ground”.
On cross-examination, Weinstein lawyer Damon Cheronis repeatedly asked if Weinstein forced either woman to do anything and each time she responded that while she personally didn’t feel forced to do anything, “the situation was forced”.
Additional reporting by agencies