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Harvey Weinstein trial hears more allegations

Harvey Weinstein's rape trial in New York has heard testimony from the ex-roommate of Miriam Haley, who has accused Weinstein of an alleged 2006 assault.

Harvey Weinstein's rape trial in New York has heard testimony from the ex-roommate of Miriam Haley, who has accused Weinstein of an alleged 2006 assault. Photo: Getty

The former roommate of Mimi Haleyi, one of the women who has accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, took the stand on Tuesday in the former Hollywood mogul’s rape trial.

Elizabeth Entin told jurors that Haleyi, visibly upset, told her in the summer of 2006 that Hollywood mogul Weinstein forced oral sex on her.

“I said, ‘Miriam, that sounds like rape,'” Ms Entin testified.

Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Ms Haleyi and Jessica Mann.

Since 2017, more than 80 women, including many famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. He has denied the allegations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.

Ms Haleyi, who worked as a production assistant on a Weinstein TV show, told jurors on Monday that Weinstein invited her to his Manhattan home in July 2006 and attacked her, backing her into a bedroom and forcing oral sex on her as she told him “no.”

Ms Entin said on Tuesday that she and Ms Haleyi shared an apartment in 2006.

She said that one evening Ms Haleyi appeared unusually nervous, and told her Weinstein had assaulted her in his home.

Ms Entin testified that she told Ms Haleyi her experience sounded like rape and urged her to speak to a lawyer, but that Ms Haleyi did not want to.

On cross-examination, Donna Rotunno, one of Weinstein’s lawyers, asked Ms Entin whether she knew Weinstein had paid for Ms Haleyi to travel to Los Angeles and London after the alleged assault, and that she had continued to communicate with him. Ms Entin said she did not.

Ms Haleyi was the second accuser to testify against Weinstein at the trial.

Actress Annabella Sciorra, known for her role on HBO’s The Sopranos, testified last week that Weinstein forced his way into her Manhattan apartment one winter night in 1993 or 1994 and violently raped her.

While Sciorra’s allegation is too old to support a separate rape charge against Weinstein, prosecutors hope it will show he is a repeat sexual predator – a charge that could put him in prison for life.

A third accuser, former aspiring actress Jessica Mann, is expected to testify that Weinstein raped her in 2013.

-AP

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