‘Monster’ Harvey Weinstein ‘lured victims like witch in Hansel and Gretel’ and ‘used women as pawns for sex’
MOVIE mogul Harvey Weinstein was compared to a fairytale witch luring victims as his rape trial started yesterday. The court heard the disgraced film producer also had a “desire for conquest” and treated women like “pawns” for sexual gratification. Weinstein, 67, is also accused of using his connections to politicians — including former US president […]
MOVIE mogul Harvey Weinstein was compared to a fairytale witch luring victims as his rape trial started yesterday.
The court heard the disgraced film producer also had a “desire for conquest” and treated women like “pawns” for sexual gratification.
Weinstein, 67, is also accused of using his connections to politicians — including former US president Bill Clinton — to intimidate and silence alleged victims.
At New York Supreme Court yesterday prosecutors showed the jury a picture of Weinstein, then at the peak of his powers, posing with Clinton.
And they likened him to the child-eating witch in the gingerbread house from the fairy-tale Hansel And Gretel.
Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast told the jury: “During this trial, you’re going to learn that the defendant was a savvy, powerful Hollywood producer living a lavish lifestyle.
“But the evidence will also show that man was a sexual predator and rapist.
“That man . . . was not just a titan in Hollywood, but a rapist who sexually assaulted these women when they refused to comply with his desires and then used his power and prestige in the entertainment industry to silence them.”
‘SEXUAL PREDAOR’
One alleged rape was so violent that when he ripped off his victim’s jeans it left scratch marks on her thighs.
He is said to have later said: “I find you so attractive, I couldn’t resist you.”
Weinstein, who was helped into court by one of his PR agents, denies five charges of rape and sexual assault.
The court heard that in the mid-1990s he allegedly raped Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, after the pair had dinner together in Manhattan.
Miss Hast said: “She told him to get out, she told him no, but Harvey Weinstein is undeterred. Annabella remembers at some point giving up the fight just hoping it would end.”
Weinstein then performed oral sex on Miss Sciorra until her body began to violently shake, the court heard.
She was “emotionally and physically destroyed” and passed out.
Weinstein is also accused of twice raping production assistant Miriam Haleyi.
He is said to have lunged at her in her New York apartment in 2006 and in a separate incident at a city hotel.
‘PHYSICALLY DESTROYED ME’
Miss Hast said: “She thought that she could somehow take the power back, but she was dealing with a sexual predator.
“She left feeling ashamed, stupid and worthless. The score was Harvey Weinstein — everything. Miriam Haleyi zero.”
Weinstein, behind hit Hollywood films Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare In Love, is not expected to give evidence.
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The case is separate from a £19million settlement he has provisionally agreed with dozens of victims around the world, including Britain.
Weinstein also faces separate charges of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles.
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