First accused takes witness to Harvey Weinsteins Metoo Retrial

New York, April 30 (AP), a woman who says that Harvey Weinstein testified forcibly oral sex on her, on Tuesday during his Metoo re-hearing that she never had a romantic or sexual interest in the one-time Hollywood heavyweight. Miriam Haley, the first of three accusers expected to testify, told jurors about an uncomfortable encounter with Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in France two months before she said he had assaulted her in his manhattan apartment in 2020. The witness said her testimony from his first hearing in 2020, said she went to Weinstein’s hotel room. He commented on her legs and suggested that they give each other massages, Haley said. Now 47, she said she refused his progress and burst into tears when she left. “I feel surprised. I feel humiliated, ‘she testified. “It was just like a sinking feeling that he didn’t take me seriously at all.” Asked by Manhattan prosecutor Nicole Blumberg, whether she had “any interest” in Weinstein “romantic or sexual”, Haley replied: “No, I didn’t. I was there to try to look for work. ‘ Haley’s testimony is expected to continue on Wednesday. She should not be asked about the alleged assault yet. Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who inherited the case from his predecessor, looked out of the courtroom gallery while Haley took the position. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, sat behind Bragg. Haley started by talking about her abusive childhood in Finland and Sweden, her interest in the performing arts and the film industry as assistant of the late “Rocky Horror Picture Show” producer Michael White. Haley, a former TV and film production assistant, was re -heard at the beginning of the second week of evidence. Two of her friends, who said she told them about the alleged assault, testified last week. Haley initially expressed reluctance to testify again after an appeal court in New York overturned Weinstein’s rural conviction last year and ordered a new trial. The state’s Court of Appeal laid out Weinstein’s 23 -year -old convictions and imprisonment and ordered a new hearing after finding that the original one was infected by ‘ominous’ judicial decisions and disadvantaged evidence. Haley did not look at Weinstein as she entered the courtroom through a side door and quickly walked to the witness stand, but was obliged to show her prosecutor in court. The former studio boss, who sits between his advocates, looked at her as she passed as she identified him from the yard. In a sign of how hard Haley’s testimony is likely to be, she hardly began to answer the questions of a prosecutor when Weinstein’s attorneys objected to questions about physical abuse, she says she suffered as a child. She was allowed to answer, and her voice then caught briefly before composing herself. Weinstein’s advocates objected to similar questions on his first trial and were mostly dismissed without much discussion. This time, with another judge, they are doubling their efforts to excise evidence, which they believe is irrelevant or is likely to confuse the jurors. Weinstein (73) is facing charges of two women from his original trial in 2020: one score of criminal sex acts for Haley’s allegations and one score of third -degree rape for allegedly assaulted actor Jessica Mann in a Hoter Room in Manhattan in 2013. Weinstein is charged with one count of criminal sex acts for allegedly forcing oral sex on Sokola in a hotel in Manhattan in 2006. Mann and Sokola are also expected to testify. Weinstein pleaded not guilty and denied that he had raped or sexually assaulted someone. Haley testified during the hearing in 2020 that Weinstein pushed her on a bed in his manhattan apartment and forced oral sex on her, fearlessly by her kicks and pleas from: “No, please don’t, I don’t want it.” Haley’s two friends testified last Thursday that she told them about the alleged sexual assault in July 2006 around that time. Former roommate Elizabeth Entin said she suggested that Haley call an advocate, but her friend did not appear. Another friend, Christine Pressman, said she advised a ‘troubled’ Haley not to go to the police. Haley, who also named Mimi Haleyi, in her earlier testimony admitted that she kept contact with Weinstein and accepted an invitation to his hotel room two weeks after the alleged assault, where he pulled her into bed for sex. (AP) Oz Oz Oz first published: 30 Apr 2025, 06:03 AM IST