Former aspiring actress Jessica Mann told a Manhattan court on Tuesday (4) that Harvey Weinstein raped her and said that while their relationship was “complicated” that did not change the fact that he had raped her.
Mann’s testimony in Weinstein’s Manhattan rape trial came as the defence pressed her about her continued contact with the former Hollywood mogul after he allegedly raped her in March 2013.
On Monday the accuser’s testimony had been cut short after she began weeping uncontrollably as she read aloud an email she wrote in 2014 describing Weinstein, 67, as a “pseudo father”.
Back in court on Tuesday, Mann said she believed her last sexual encounter with Weinstein was after his mother died in November 2016.
The witness said her contact with Weinstein continued into 2017, when she emailed him, writing: I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.”
Mann was subdued for much of the cross-examination, but toward the end, she began to push back against Weinstein lead lawyer Donna Rotunno.
“I know the history of my relationship with him,” she said as the lawyer pressed her about the timing of the events she alleged. “I know it was complicated and difficult. That doesn’t change the fact that he raped me.”
Rotunno asked that the answer be struck from the record, but Justice James Burke denied the request.
Mann had testified on Friday that Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel room, early in what she described as an “extremely degrading” relationship. She said the relationship continued in some form for years after that.
On Tuesday, Rotunno focused on Mann’s email correspondence with him following the alleged attack.
In one email in 2013, Mann told Weinstein she had just been through a break-up and was hoping to have dinner with him.
In another email, sent in 2014, Mann asked Weinstein for a referral so she could get a membership at the Soho House.
Rotunno asked whether Mann wanted the jury to believe that her rapist was the person she reached out to for the referral.
“I do want the jury to know that he is my rapist,” Mann said, adding that she hoped to be able to explain her dynamic with him.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to raping Mann, 34, and to sexually assaulting another woman, Mimi Haleyi. He stands accused of five counts of sexual offences stemming from encounters with the two women. Since 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. He has denied any non-consensual sex.
No comments yet