Harvey Weinstein Trial: Rape Accuser Says Movie Mogul Dismissed Himself As 'Harmless Old Man' Before Attacks
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The woman Harvey Weinstein is charged with raping in a Manhattan hotel room back in 2013 testified Friday at the trial.
Jessica Mann says when she met Weinstein, he offered to help her with her acting aspirations, reports CBS2's Alice Gainer.
She says the disgraced movie mogul took her to a bookstore to learn more about the history of film, invited her to parties and even told her at one point when she questioned his motives one night, "I'm a harmless old man."
She was 27 at the time, and he was about to turn 61.
Mann says Weinstein also told her she reminded him of his wife, saying they were both clumsy. He also offered to provide Mann a dress from his fashion designer wife's company for a party.
Web Extra: Read the indictment against Weinstein (pdf)
At times sobbing, she described unwelcome advances which escalated from him asking for a massage to performing a sex act on her.
Mann said she was confused after what happened and made a decision to be in a relationship with him, wanting his approval and feeling compassion after seeing him naked and thinking he was "missing portions of his private parts."
During this time she says he was degrading, had a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality, poor personal hygiene - smelling like human waste - and didn't want to hear the word no.
Mann says she broke off the relationship but continued to interact with him.
In 2013, she says he trapped her in a New York hotel room, demanded she undress and raped her. She also talked about another incident afterward where he dragged, scratched and sexually attacked her.
During her testimony, Weinstein shook his head several times.
To prosecutors, this woman behind the rape charge is a prime example of a Weinstein target: a young, vulnerable woman who believed the once-revered movie mogul sincerely wanted to help her fledgling career, only for him to make increasingly vile sexual advances.
"He was the old lady in the gingerbread house luring the kids in, missing the oven behind," Hast said in her opening statement.
The defense says after the alleged incident Mann continued to send Weinstein complimentary, even flirtatious, emails - never once accusing him of harming her. Mann says she did so because "his ego was so fragile."
Weinstein is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2006. He insists any sexual encounters were consensual.
If convicted he faces life in prison.
