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Home / World

The six women who brought down Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein

news.com.au
25 Feb, 2020 02:19 AM10 mins to read

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Everything you need to know about Harvey Weinstein's trial. Video / AP

WARNING: Graphic content

The six women who testified at Harvey Weinstein's trial are being hailed as heroes.

Weinstein, who was once the most powerful man in Hollywood, faces up to 29 years in prison after a jury of seven men and five women found him guilty of raping an actor in 2013 and sexually assaulting a production assistant by forcibly performing oral sex on her in 2006.

READ MORE:
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• Harvey Weinstein guilty: Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd react to verdicts
• Harvey Weinstein's disgusting deformity revealed

The jury acquitted Weinstein of the most serious charge, first-degree rape.

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"This is the new landscape for survivors of sexual assault in America, I believe, and it is a new day," said District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. after the jury's decision. "It is a new day because Harvey Weinstein has finally been held accountable for crimes he committed."

During the trial, six women testified in horrifying detail how the disgraced movie mogul either raped them, forced them to give or receive oral sex or were trapped by him as he performed a sex act in front of them.

Together, they "changed the course of history in the fight against sexual violence" and "pulled our justice system into the 21st century", said Vance Jr.

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Some of the testimonies, didn't relate to the charges Weinstein was facing. Instead they were used by prosecutors to demonstrate Weinstein's pattern of abuse.

Here are the most shocking claims from Weinstein's accusers in court.

In this courtroom sketch Harvey Weinstein is led out of Manhattan Supreme Court after a jury convicted him of rape and sexual assault. Image / AP, Elizabeth Williams
In this courtroom sketch Harvey Weinstein is led out of Manhattan Supreme Court after a jury convicted him of rape and sexual assault. Image / AP, Elizabeth Williams

JESSICA MANN

Jessica Mann claimed in court that she was raped by Weinstein in a New York City hotel room in 2013 and again eight months later at a hotel in Los Angeles. She also confirmed that she had had consensual sexual encounters with the movie mogul.

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Mann burst into tears several times in court as she spoke about Weinstein's genitalia and claimed that he once urinated on her.

"We were in the shower," Mann said. "He wanted to shower first which was beneficial to me … and he asked me to come into the shower and then he said to me, 'Have you ever had a golden shower?' and I said, 'No', and then I felt him peeing on me.

"I was in shock by it," she said. "It was gross … I turned into the corner of the shower and just looked away."

Speaking about Weinstein's genitalia, Mann said in court: "The first time I saw him fully naked, I felt, I thought he was deformed and intersex.

"He has extreme scarring that I didn't know if maybe he was a burn victim. He does not have testicles, and it appears like he has a vagina."

Mann also detailed an incident when she was in Weinstein's hotel room and she told him that she was in a relationship with another man.

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"His eyes changed and he was not there," she said. "They were very black and he ripped me up from my chair from the table, and he was screaming, 'You owe me, you owe me one more time'.

She then described in graphic detail about Weinstein forcibly performing oral sex on her before raping her.

Mann said that Weinstein later apologised for the incident, saying, "I'm so sorry about earlier. I just find you so attractive, I couldn't resist."

The prosecution's key witness, Jessica Mann, right, arrives at Manhattan criminal court to testify at the sex assault trial of Harvey Weinstein. Photo / Getty Images
The prosecution's key witness, Jessica Mann, right, arrives at Manhattan criminal court to testify at the sex assault trial of Harvey Weinstein. Photo / Getty Images

MIRIAM HALEYI

Haleyi claimed in court that Weinstein sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions after he got her a job as a production assistant on Project Runway.

She claimed that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in his apartment in New York in 2006.

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"He held me down on the bed and he forced himself on me orally," Haleyi said in court. "I was on my period, I had a tampon in there. I mean it was, I was mortified.

"He literally pulled my tampon out."

Haleyi claimed she was raped by Weinstein on a separate occasion when she visited him in his hotel room, saying, "almost instantly he basically just took my hand like that and just pulled me towards the bed".

"I just thought well, I just went numb and I just thought 'here we go again' type of thing, and I was just, I just felt like an idiot," she said.

"I had made it so clear and fought him off and made it very, very clear that I was not interested in him and he had managed to convince me to meet him again just to do, do something like that to me again, and I felt like an idiot for having believed whatever he was saying."

Mimi Haleyi, right, arriving to testify in Harvey Weinstein's trial on charges of rape and sexual assault in New York. Photo / AP
Mimi Haleyi, right, arriving to testify in Harvey Weinstein's trial on charges of rape and sexual assault in New York. Photo / AP

ANNABELLA SCIORRA

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Annabella Sciorra, who is best known for playing the character of Gloria Trillo in hit HBO series The Sopranos, alleges Weinstein raped her after appearing at her Manhattan apartment in 1993.

Her allegations were too old to be charged, but prosecutors intended that her testimony would demonstrate a pattern of predatory behaviour by Weinstein.

She said the mogul turned up to her apartment unannounced and refused to leave when she asked him to.

"He led me into the bedroom which was the next room over from the bathroom, and he shoved me on the bed," Sciorra said.

"I was trying to get him off of me. Punching him, kicking him, just trying to get him away from me, and he took my hands and put them over my head.

"He put his penis inside my vagina and he had intercourse with me while I was trying to fight, but I could not fight anymore because he had my hands locked."

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Sciorra said she ran into Weinstein a month later and when she confronted him about the incident he said to her, "This remains between you and I."

"I thought he was going to hit me right there," Sciorra said in court.

Sciorra also testified that Weinstein randomly rocked up to her hotel room during the Cannes Film Festival. He was dressed only in underwear, she claimed, and he was holding baby oil and a videotape.

Weinstein left after Sciorra ran to the room phone and dialled for help.

Annabella Sciora has testified against Harvey Weinstein in court. Photo / Getty Images
Annabella Sciora has testified against Harvey Weinstein in court. Photo / Getty Images

TARALE WULFF

Tarale Wulff, a former aspiring actor, claimed that she was raped at Weinstein's apartment in 2005 and that he masturbated in front of her inside a restaurant where she worked.
Testifying about the restaurant incident, Wulff said that she was serving cocktails before Weinstein grabbed her arm and led her towards a darkened terrace.

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"He had on, I believe, a white shirt and I noticed that his shirt started moving, and I realised he was masturbating under his shirt," she said. "And I just froze for a second, then I just threw the towel and ran past him."

She added, "The only thing I remember him saying was, 'Wait a second, give me a minute, I'll be a second'."

After the incident, Wulff said she "ran back to the bar and I asked the girls to take my section and I just stood by the service station".

DAWN DUNNING

Dawn Dunning claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein during a meeting inside a Soho hotel suite in 2004.

"He put his hand up my skirt," Dunning said in court. "His hand went under my underwear, he was trying to put it in – trying to put it in my vagina.

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"I stood up, I was like, I was like shocked. I just was not expecting that to happen. He just started talking really fast, he was like, 'It is not a big deal, don't make a big deal about this.' He said it would not happen again."

Dunning claimed that a few weeks later she was meant to meet Weinstein at a cigar bar, but instead Weinstein's assistant took her to meet the mogul at a hotel.

"He (Weinstein) opened the door and he, he was wearing an open white hotel bathrobe," she said. "He kind of just cut to the chase and said, 'Here's contracts for my next three films. I'll sign them today if you have a threesome with me and my assistant'," Dunning said in court.

"When he said that, I laughed, I thought he was kidding, and he had kind of a crass sense of humour. But when I started laughing, he got really angry and started screaming at me. He said, 'You'll never make it in this business, this is how this industry works'.

"I just like ran, turned and ran for the door, and literally ran down the hall to the elevator," Dunning said.

Lauren Marie Young departs a Manhattan courthouse after testifying in the rape trial of Harvey Weinstein. Photo / AP.
Lauren Marie Young departs a Manhattan courthouse after testifying in the rape trial of Harvey Weinstein. Photo / AP.

LAUREN MARIE YOUNG

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Lauren Marie Young claimed in court that Weinstein trapped her in the bathroom of a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2013 and masturbated in front of her.

Young claimed that another woman, a Mexican model named Claudia Salinas, stood outside the bathroom door during the incident, although Salinas later disputed the claim in court.

"I followed Harvey in (to the bathroom) and Claudia is behind me, and as I step into the bathroom, there is a mirror straight ahead and I look in it and behind me I see Claudia closing the door," Young said in court.

"Harvey went straight to the left into the shower, opened it, turned it on and already started undressing. I turned around and the door was finishing being shut. I stood there in shock."

Young claimed she tried to leave, saying, Weinstein "stepped in front of me when I went to approach the door with his naked body".

Young said in court that she was backed up against the bathroom sinks when Weinstein got physical with her.

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"He starts coming closer to me," she said. "So I turned because I did not want to look at his naked body and I, he came behind me and unzipped my dress. He started pulling it down.

"He was masturbating and grasping my boob with his, my right breast with his left hand and jerking off with his right hand saying, 'How am I going to know if you can act?' I said, 'No, no, no' the whole time, that I had a boyfriend, that I was not interested.

"He went from grabbing my breast, my right breast to touching my vagina," she said.

"He continued to masturbate and ejaculated on the towel."

After the incident, Young said that Weinstein left the bathroom and she stood there in "shock".

"I pulled up my dress, I don't even think I zipped it, and I walked out the bathroom, and Claudia Salinas was standing right there and Harvey had already went into his bedroom," she said. "I shot her an evil look and I left as quick as I could without saying anything."

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Harvey Weinstein will be sentenced on March 11.

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