A Los Angeles court on Monday found former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault of an Italian actor and model, reported the Associated Press.
The 70-year-old was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and another count of sexual misconduct involving the woman who said that Weinstein had come uninvited at her hotel room during a Los Angeles film festival in February 2013.
During the two-month long trial, Weinstein was defending himself against four complainants who levelled sexual assault allegations against him. However, Weinstein was found guilty on three counts involving the Italian actor, who was known at the trial as Jane Doe 1.
“Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get that back,” the anonymous complainant said, reported AP. “The criminal trial was brutal and Weinstein’s lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand, but I knew I had to see this through to the end, and I did.
She added: “I hope Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime.”
The jury of eight men and four women was unable to reach a decision on counts involving two complainants – rape and sexual assault charges involving a documentary filmmaker, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, model Lauren Young, and the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, reported the BBC.
Weinstein, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison for assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping former aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2020, could get up to 24 years in prison in California when he is sentenced.
The allegations of sexual assault against Weinstein were first reported by The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017, which led to the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. The movements sought to expose sexual harassment and assault, especially at the workplace.
Since 2017, more than 80 women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against Weinstein spanning several decades, reported the BBC.
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