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, has only been prosecuted in New York criminal court for two incidents. One of them concerns former production assistant Mimi Haleyi, who claims to have been sexually assaulted in July 2006.
On Monday, on the fourth day of the debates, the forties delivered her version of this 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 was kissing and fiddling with me" when the conversation was "normal" a few seconds earlier, she said. Once standing, "I was walking backwards because he was pushing me with his body," she continued. Cornered, she said she found herself in a child's room, with drawings hanging on the wall. "During all this time, I expressed to him that I did not want that," she explained. The producer would have pushed her on the bed, and "every time I tried to get up, he pushed me again," she said, letting out sobs. One of the most powerful men in Hollywood would then have cunnilingus after removing his tampon, she said. "I was trying to escape, but I realized it was useless," she said, the producer weighing about three times his weight. "I closed my mind. "
"I told myself that going to see the police was not an option for me," said this elegant brunette woman, because she was working in New York without a work visa and risked expulsion from the United States. The one who changed her last name since the publication of the first revelations about the producer also said she feared this man of "power" and "contacts".
A “consensual relationship” for defense
The former production assistant, who has left the film industry, said she had sex with Harvey Weinstein about two weeks after the alleged assault. Was it a sexual assault? asked one of the defense lawyers, Damon Cheronis, during cross-examination. "I did not resist," replied, annoyed, Mimi Haleyi, adding that Harvey Weinstein had grabbed her before and threw her on a bed.
During cross-examination, Damon Cheronis produced a deluge of emails and pages from Mimi Haleyi's own agenda to show that she had remained in contact with her alleged attacker several years after the alleged events. "I'm really upset that I missed you," she wrote to Harvey Weinstein's assistant after the powerful producer visited London in an email dated September 2006, two months after the incident. presumed.
A few months later, she met the producer in London, where she lived, to tell him about a TV show project. "As a friend would show it to a friend?" Asked Damon Cheronis. "No, as one person would show to another who has a lot of professional experience," replied Mimi Haleyi, who never seemed destabilized by defense questions.
The lawyer then went on to a new email, dated 2008, in which she signs "lots of love" ("Lots of Love"). "It's a common way to sign," said Mimi Haleyi. "You had a consensual relationship with Mr. Weinstein," launched the lawyer, an assertion denied by the applicant. "You were friends with Mr. Weinstein," he continued. "I had a professional relationship with Mr. Weinstein," she replied. "He never sexually assaulted you!" Interjected Damon Cheronis in a final trip to the jury, a few moments before the witness of the day was thanked by judge James Burke. "It's not true," she immediately replied.
After the testimony of Mimi Haleyi, and that, last week, of actress Annabella Sciorra, the third woman much awaited at the trial is Jessica Mann, who claims to have been raped in 2013 by Harvey Weinstein. The latter risks life.
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