NEW YORK (AP) — He was a famous filmmaker. She was the publicist who worked at the movie premiere where he was his VIP guest. He told her he would drive her to her house, then invited her to his apartment for a drink.
Writer-director Paul Haggis suddenly tried to kiss her, put her back in the refrigerator and questioned her, accuser Haley Brest told jurors on Thursday.
“Are you scared of me?” he asked, according to her testimony.
According to Brest, a sexual assault began that ended with the Oscar winner raping her. She is suing him in a civil suit that is currently on trial.
Haggis claims the 2013 encounter was consensual, and his attorney claims Brest called it rape for money. I am seeking compensation.
In a steady, unrelenting tone, Brest said it was a horribly painful attack that left her shocked and “really struggling to understand what happened.”
“I couldn’t understand how someone who looked like a nice guy would do such a thing,” she said.
As she spoke without looking at him, Haggis, 69, watched almost expressionlessly, occasionally rubbing his bearded chin or taking notes.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless, like Brest, they come forward publicly.
Brest, now 36, first met the screenwriters of “Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby” in 2012 at a premiere afterparty where she was working.
Brest and Haggis exchanged occasional professional emails and party chats over the months before reconnecting at another premiere party she was in charge of on January 31, 2013, she said.
Brest, who is tipsy and not too drunk to stumble, accepted the filmmaker’s offer of a ride, and then accepted his invitation for a drink, she told jurors. She said she proposed, but he insisted on his apartment in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, and she didn’t want to upset one of her employer’s red carpet guests.
“But you know, she testified that she told him, ‘I’m not sleeping in Soho tonight.
But Brest said her progress began as soon as Haggis left the bag in the loft’s open kitchen.
According to her, “You’ve been flirting with me for months,” he said quickly.
“I don’t know you either,” she replied.
Brest said she had fended him off, and thought she politely denied the situation when he started showing her the apartment. , I tried to push her onto the bed, leaving her tights and clothes undressed, so I told her to stop.
He then forced her to perform oral sex and wished for intercourse. He then brought her back to the hospital and engaged in a series of unwanted sexual acts, leading to rape.
“I was like a trapped animal. There was nothing for me to do,” she said.
Brest said he passed out shortly afterwards and woke up alone in his bed the next morning and left without seeing Haggis again.
According to Brest, on that day and in the months that followed, she told half a dozen friends she had been sexually assaulted and named Haggis. I informed my boss that I had
Brest did not speak to the police. She testified that she was worried about how her allegations would be handled.
Nor did she confront Haggis when he emailed her the day after their encounter to ask about the premiere photos. Also in the few emails she started about screenings, social events and movies that followed.
“I didn’t want the work experience to be awkward,” she testified. And it wasn’t.
According to texts and other electronic messages released in court, Brest was agonizing behind the scenes about what happened and what to do.
The correspondence sent to the friend ranged from blunt descriptions of forced sex (“And I kept refusing”) to moments when she seemed to downplay it (“It’s a form of rape”). It has been changed.
Sometimes she said she wanted to avoid Haggis, but other times she would see him again to try to calm down and “not be a victim.” Lol”, “hmm”, “haha”).
Haggis has not yet testified, and his attorney has not yet had the opportunity to question Brest. For example, the comment she needs “to get something out of this”.
Brest said her remarks reflect fear of becoming a victim, a desire to control her life, and confusion over the possibility that someone she used to think might violently attack her. said to reflect the
Now, she said, she understood that night.
“I thought I was going home. I agreed to have a drink. What happened should never have happened,” she told the jury.
