An ex-model has tearfully instructed a court docket that being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein when she was 16 was essentially the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced” to that time.
Warning: This text accommodates references to sexual assault
Kaja Sokola instructed the movie producer’s retrial that he ordered her to take away her shirt, put his hand in her underwear, and made her contact his genitals.
She mentioned he’d stared at her within the mirror with “black and scary” eyes and instructed her to remain quiet concerning the alleged assault in a Manhattan resort in 2002.
Ms Sokola instructed the New York court docket that Weinstein had dropped names resembling Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow, and mentioned he might assist fulfil her Hollywood dream.
“I’d never been in a situation like this,” mentioned Polish-born Ms Sokola. “I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position.”
Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anybody and is again in court docket for a retrial after his conviction was overturned final yr.
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Weinstein denies the allegations. Pic: Reuters
The 73-year-old isn’t charged over the alleged sexual assault as a result of it occurred too way back to convey prison costs.
Nonetheless, he’s going through costs over an incident 4 years later when he is mentioned to have compelled Ms Sokola to carry out oral intercourse on him.
Prosecutors declare it occurred after Weinstein organized for her to be an additional in a movie.
“My soul was removed from me,” she instructed the court docket of the alleged 2006 assault, describing how she tried to push Weinstein away however that he held her down.
Ms Sokola – who’s waived her proper to anonymity – is the second of three girls to testify and the one one who wasn’t a part of the primary trial in 2020.
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Miriam Haley testified beforehand within the retrial. Pic: AP
Miriam Haley final week instructed the court docket that Weinstein compelled oral intercourse on her in 2006. The opposite accuser, Jessica Mann, is but to seem.
Claims in opposition to the movie mogul have been a significant driver for the #MeToo motion in opposition to sexual harassment and abuse in 2017.
Weinstein’s attorneys allege the ladies consented to sexual exercise within the hope of getting movie and TV work and that they stayed involved with him for some time afterwards.
