Director Woody Allen -

Steve Sands / Starface

Now retired, prosecutor Frank Maco decided not to prosecute Woody Allen in 1993 when he was accused by Dylan Farrow, his adopted seven-year-old daughter, of sexual abuse.

Yet, then as now, he remains convinced that Dylan Farrow did not lie and continues to speak the truth.

And it brushes aside the accusations of the filmmaker who claims that his adopted daughter was manipulated by his mother, Mia Farrow, from whom he was separating when he had started a relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of his ex.

“I challenge anyone to say that Mia Farrow controlled this child at any time.

If you watch the video of this child and how the child talks, these are not the words of a child being manipulated or controlled by his mother.

I saw Mia as a mother worried about her child, ”the former prosecutor told

People

.

Regrets

The video in question is that of the filmed interrogation of Dylan Farrow then aged 7 and shown in the documentary

Allen v.

Farrow

.

Frank Maco explains that he refused to go to trial so as not to have the girl testify at the bar in order to protect her.

He was afraid she would "freeze" in front of a judge.

Also at the time, Dylan Farrow had been examined by Yale-New Haven Hospital's child sexual abuse clinic, which concluded that she had not been abused by her adoptive father.

According to their assessment, the child she was could have been influenced by her mother.

Frank Maco had decided not to prosecute Woody Allen.

The prosecutor and Dylan Farrow saw each other again in 2020. The young woman, now a writer, explained to him that she "blamed herself for not having been strong enough".

"I replied, 'Dylan, I never want to hear you say that. You were a child. Blame me. I made the decision. I chose this,'" added Frank Maco, who visibly regrets. the outcome of the case.

Woody Allen still denies the charges against him.

Culture

"Allen v Farrow" Documentary: How Mia Farrow's Career Collapsed After Her Woody Allen Revelations

  • Documentary

  • HBO

  • Sexual assault

  • Cinema

  • Woody allen