One of the two victims for whom Harvey Weinstein is being sued in Manhattan court said Monday (January 27th) how she was sexually assaulted in a children's room in the Hollywood producer's apartment in New York.
If more than 80 women have accused the film tycoon of harassing or sexually assaulting them, Harvey Weinstein, who claims that his sexual relations were all consensual, is only prosecuted in New York criminal court by two women. One of them is former production assistant Mimi Haleyi, who claims to have been sexually assaulted in July 2006.
On Monday, the fourth day of the debates, the forties delivered her version of that evening in Harvey Weinstein's apartment in SoHo, where he had asked him to come and greet the producer. She described an affable man, suddenly transforming, without warning signs. "He kissed me and fiddled with me", she remembered.
"I closed my mind"
Once standing, "I was walking backwards because he was pushing me with his body", she continued. Cornered, she said she found herself in a children's room, with drawings hanging on the wall. "During all this time, I expressed to him that I didn't want that. " The producer pushed her onto the bed, and "Every time I tried to get up, he pushed me away"she said, letting out sobs.
One of Hollywood's most powerful men then cunniledus after removing his tampon, she said. "I was trying to escape, but I realized it was useless, she said, as the producer weighs about three times his weight. I closed my mind. "
"I told myself that going to the police was not an option for me", said the elegant brunette, because she was working in New York without a work visa and was facing deportation from the United States. Mme Haleyi, who has changed his last name since the producer was first revealed, also said he feared the man. " power " and of "Contacts".
A signed email "full of love"
In the ensuing cross-examination, one of the defense lawyers, Damon Cheronis, produced an email sent approximately two years later by Mimi Haleyi to Harvey Weinstein, and signed " full of love ". Before the trial, the defense had already sought to discredit his testimony by insisting that the former production assistant had kept in touch with the producer several years after the alleged assault.
If convicted, Mr. Weinstein, father of five and divorced twice, risks life. A conviction would be a victory for the #metoo movement: if dozens of powerful men have been charged with sexual assault since October 2017, almost all have escaped criminal prosecution.
