Feb. 6 (UPI) — Harvey Weinstein’s final accuser testified Wednesday in his Manhattan rape trial that the Hollywood producer trapped her in a bathroom and groped her.
Actress Lauren Marie Young concluded a string of emotional witness testimony during the third week of Weinstein’s trial.
She said the alleged attack happened in 2013 in a Beverly Hills, Calif., hotel room.
She said she went to an Oscars dinner hosted by Weinstein in February 2012 where she met his friend Claudia Salinas and got her contact information.
Salinas then reached out to Young a year later to discuss a script Young wrote and they met on Feb. 19, 2013, at the Montage Beverly Hills. Weinstein arrived about 10 minutes after she met Salinas at the lobby bar and the pair led her to a hotel room after Weinstein said he had to get ready for an awards event involving Quentin Tarantino.
Young said Salinas then trapped her in the bathroom with Weinstein who stripped, masturbated in front of her, pulled down her dress and groped her before she managed to escape.
“I stood there in shock … and I went to the door. By that point he was already undressed and he stepped in front of me with his naked body … I felt so trapped,” she said. “The girl that invited me closed the door, she left me there, that’s what I realized ‘this was set up, she put me in here.'”
During the encounter, Young said Weinstein asked “How am I going to know if you can act?” and said, “This is how all the actresses make it.”
Young said she left the hotel and went to a friend’s house where she told people about the encounter and said she was “Traumatized. Terrified. Paranoid.”
Weinstein attorney Damon Cheronis asked Young whether she was pushed into the bathroom, to which she replied she was not.
The defense also presented the dress Young said she was wearing at the time of the alleged assault and questioned how Weinstein went about removing it.
“Is it your testimony that your arms and shoulders fell out of this dress? How long did it take for him to unbutton and unzip this?” Cheronis asked.
Jessica Mann, 34, another accuser, testified under cross-examination Tuesday that she had an on-again, off-again consensual sexual relationship with Weinstein, whom she referred to as “my rapist.” She’s accused him of sexually assaulting her twice in 2013. Tuesday was her second day under cross-examination after she broke down on the stand Monday and brought the hearing to a temporary halt.
“I know the history of my relationship,” Mann said in court. “It’s complicated and it’s difficult. I don’t need an excuse. I own my behavior.”
Weinstein’s attorneys suggested that Mann enjoyed being connected to Weinstein, noting that she accepted invitations to numerous Hollywood parties and asked him to support her for membership into an exclusive club. Mann said she kept in touch with Weinstein out of fear.
The 67-year-old Weinstein could spend the rest of his life in prison if he’s convicted. He has said all the sexual encounters mentioned at trial were consensual. Once one of the most powerful figures in the movie business, he faces one charge of first-degree rape, two counts of predatory sexual assault, one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree rape.
