The well-known director Roman Polanski will face a civil trial that will take place during the next year, for allegations that he raped a girl in 1973. Attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Cosby, confirmed in a briefing that a judge in Los Angeles has scheduled the director's trial for August 2025.
Polanski, 90, has avoided punishment for decades after admitting to raping Samantha Geimer, 13, in 1977. He fled the US. The director of films that have left a mark on the cinema, such as: "The Pianist" and "Romsemary's Baby", for years has faced numerous accusations from different women, who say that he has sexually abused them. The Los Angeles trial comes at the same time as he is on another trial in France on the same charge.
In the case of the trial in Los Angeles, he is charged with rape, sexual violence and intentional infliction of serious emotional distress in an incident that allegedly occurred in 1973. The woman, who has been named Jane Doe to preserve anonymity, accused the director of raping her when she was a minor. She met him at a party and a few months later, he invited her to dinner. It is suspected that the director knew that she was a minor, but again, he gave her alcohol throughout the evening and then took her to his house. The girl woke up and claims that the director told her that he wanted to have sex with her.
According to the lawyer, she told him, "Please don't do this," but Roman ignored her pleas. She claims he forced her clothes off and continued to sexually assault her, causing her immense physical and emotional pain and suffering.
"Our client Jane Doe has shown incredible courage in bringing her lawsuit against a famous filmmaker who previously pleaded guilty to a sex crime against a child and then fled to Europe to escape punishment," Allred said, adding that California's criminal justice system failed to give him an outcome worthy of the harm caused.
Doe first appeared in court in 2017, accusing the director of rape. She filed a lawsuit last year after a California law was changed that gives victims of sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits against their abusers.
"It took me a long time to decide to file this lawsuit against Mr. Polanski, but I finally made this decision and decided that I want to do this to get justice and accountability,” Doe said.
For a period of 2 years, between 2017-2019, four women have accused Roman Polanski of sexual abuse, while three others have accused him in the period of the 70s. It is believed that these three women were minors at the time. One of them is the famous artist Marianne Barnard, who said that Polanski sexually assaulted her when she was only 10 years old.
In 2010, Charlotte Lewis, an English actress, accused the director of sexually assaulting her when she was 16.
According to her, the incident happened in 1983. Polanski has denied these accusations, but has pleaded guilty to raping a girl in 1977.
