Harvey Weinstein rape trial begins in Los Angeles

An actress and model identified as Jane Doe 1 accused former Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault during the first day of his Los Angeles rape trial.

She tearfully recounted being forced to perform oral sex on Weinstein after he turned up at her hotel room following a film festival event in 2013.

The woman was the first to take the stand on Monday in the trial, following opening statements from his legal team.

“I was crying, choking,” the women said, sobbing as she spoke.

US trade publication Deadline reported Jane Doe 1 also covered her mouth with her hand as she described how Weinstein allegedly grabbed her by the hair and shoved her face toward his genitalia.

The woman filed a complaint with the Los Angeles Police Department in October 2017, shortly after the New York Times and New Yorker reported on multiple allegations of sexual assault by Weinstein.

At the Los Angeles court on Monday, Weinstein wore a black suit, blue tie and glasses as he was brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair, seated at the right edge of the defence table.

Jane Doe 1, speaking at times with some assistance from a Russian interpreter, told jurors her grasp of English was a factor in her encounter with Weinstein.

She said she had been living in Rome in 2013 when she travelled to Los Angeles to attend the Italia Film Festival, where she was expected to “work red carpets.”

She told the court she had previously met Weinstein in Rome, where he invited her to his hotel room but she declined.

At the Los Angeles event, she said, she saw Weinstein in a VIP room but said that they “barely” spoke.

Yet later, when she was back in her hotel room, the front desk put a phone call through from a person identifying himself as Weinstein, who insisted that he see her.

When he got into her room, she said there was some small talk before Weinstein removed his jacket and started talking about a massage.

“I was continuing to ask him to go because I was realising it was something awkward and I was missing my English a lot,” she said.

Weinstein then made a comment about the size of her breasts, she said, and he then tried to open her robe. She said that she pulled away and asked him again to leave.

She told the jury she feared that her poor English may have accidentally led Weinstein to believe that she was interested in him. But she said that she was trying to explain that she would not have sex “because I have three kids.”

Weinstein opened his trousers, she said, and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

Her testimony will continue on Tuesday.

Earlier on Monday, Weinstein’s attorney Mark Werksman told jurors during opening arguments the case against the former film producer would “evaporate upon your close scrutiny”.

Mr Werksman argued that the numerous allegations were in fact consensual sex or fabricated.

He said that the evidence in the case is “based on emotion, not facts,” that accusers were taking part in what he called “transactional sex.”

“It was the casting couch,” he said. “Everyone did it. He did it. They did it. Because each wanted something from another.”

“Now look at him,” Mr Werksman said, referring to Weinstein. “He’s not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. Do you think these beautiful women had sex with him because he’s hot? They did it because he is powerful.”

He suggested “an asteroid called the MeToo movement” struck with “such ferocity that everything changed overnight. And Mr Weinstein became the epicentre of the MeToo movement.”

Mr Werksman told jurors that they would not see any eyewitness corroboration of the sexual assault claims during the trial, nor would there be forensic evidence.

“You will see that not a single [Jane Doe] reported to the police that she had been sexually assaulted until five years after the fact,” he said.

“You will see reams of emails and texts from the very women who accuse him of sexual assault asking him for future meetings…expressing regret that they didn’t see him. Asking for favours.”

Weinstein, 70, has pleaded not guilty to 11 sexual assault charges that involve claims from five women between 2004 and 2013.

A jury of nine men and three women is hearing the Los Angeles case, following about two weeks of jury selection. The trial is expected to last until late November.

Weinstein was convicted in 2020 on charges of rape and criminal sexual acts, and he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was granted an appeal by New York’s highest court in August.

The former film producer, who had been transferred to Los Angeles county jail to await the second trial, faces a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison if convicted of the additional charges.

The grand jury charges are for four counts of rape, four counts of forcible oral copulation, one count of sexual penetration by use of force, plus one count of sexual battery by restraint and sexual battery.