Sopranos actor testifies that Harvey Weinstein raped her

New York: Actor Annabella Sciorra has given emotional testimony that Harvey Weinstein raped her more than 25 years ago as she helplessly tried to ward off his aggressive advances.

"I was punching him. I was kicking him. I was just trying to get him away from me, and he took my hands and put them over my head," Sciorra told the jury in Weinstein's sex assault trial on Thursday, her eyes welling up with tears and her voice breaking.

"He put my hands over my head like this," she said, stretching her hands in the air to demonstrate for this jury.

Annabella Sciorra told the jury she had no romantic interest in Harvey Weinstein, pictured. Credit:Bloomberg

Sciorra, 59, is the prosecution's bold-name witness; she has appeared in numerous movies stretching back to the early 1990s (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle) and TV shows including The Sopranos, for which she earned an Emmy nomination.

She described freezing after the attack, adding: "It was just so disgusting that my body started to shake."

She said she had no romantic interest in Weinstein whatsoever. The film producer arrived at her Manhattan apartment uninvited one night in late 1993 or early 1994 after a group dinner they both attended nearby.

Weinstein had dropped her off at her building and left – and she went upstairs to get ready for bed, dressing in a white nightgown that was a family heirloom from Italy.

But Weinstein managed to get to the 17th-floor apartment without a call up from her doorman and he forced his way inside, Sciorra told jurors.

The Brooklyn-bred film and TV performer arrived in the courtroom with prosecutors shortly after 9am, wearing a navy dress. She avoided looking at Weinstein's defence table as she walked to the witness stand but rose from the witness stand to point at him when she was asked to identify her attacker by prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orban.

Annabella Sciorra told the jury: “It was just so disgusting that my body started to shake.”Credit:AP

Sciorra said on direct examination that she first met Weinstein around 1990 or 1991 at a party in Los Angeles that her agent brought her to.

"I don't remember anything remarkable about the conversation (at the party), only that he gave me his card and said that if I came across any scripts he was looking for some good scripts."

She said she accepted a ride from Weinstein to the place she was staying in Malibu but the interaction was professional.

Weinstein also is charged with raping aspiring actor Jessica Manning in 2013 and with forcing a sex act on former producing assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006.

Sciorra's allegations are included in the predatory sexual assault counts he faces – the top charges – for allegedly committing a pattern of sex offences. If convicted on predatory sexual assault, he faces a minimum of 10 years behind bars and a maximum of life.

Weinstein's defence started poking holes in the case in opening statements on Wednesday, pointing to Manning's long history with Weinstein.

She swapped warm and "loving" emails with him for four years after she now says she was violently assaulted. In that time, they carried on a sexual relationship and she referred to him as her "casual boyfriend."

At one point, she broke up with a boyfriend while still involved with Weinstein, his lawyer Damon Cheronis told the jury.

Manning also sent repeated emails trying to set up dates with him in the years after the alleged attack at a Doubletree Hotel in Manhattan.

In 2009, three years after her alleged unwanted encounter with Weinstein, Haleyi emailed him asking him to set her up with a gig in London because she was "saving up to become a kundalini yoga teacher" and needed cash.

None of the accusers who will testify reported the alleged events to law enforcement prior to the dawn of the #MeToo movement in October 2017.

Actor Ellen Barkin was in line to get in the courthouse as early as 6.45am. Around that time, she tweeted support for Sciorra.

"All my power All my heart All my strength I give to you dear friend and warrior … #AnnabellaSciorra I love you. 'The truth will out' #MeTooTooManyTimes," Barkin wrote.

The Washington Post

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