- Title: Accuser describes alleged Cosby sex assault
- Date: 6th June 2017
- Summary: NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 6, 2017) (REUTERS) BILL COSBY HOLDING ONTO THE ARM OF HIS SPOKESMAN ANDREW WYATT AS HE WALKS INTO COURTHOUSE COSBY ENTERING COURTROOM
- Embargoed: 20th June 2017 23:29
- Keywords: Andrea Constand The Cosby Show assault trial court Bill Cosby
- Location: NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES
- City: NORRISTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0016K56893
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The woman who accused Bill Cosby of the sexual assault that led to his criminal trial testified on Tuesday (June 6) that she felt "frozen" after taking three pills the entertainer gave her before the assault.
No cameras were allowed in the court but media reports say Andrea Constand's voice quivered as she began describing the 2004 incident at comedian's Philadelphia-area home while Cosby, at times, shook his head.
Dozens of women have accused Cosby, 79, of sexual assaulting them, often after plying them with drugs, in a series of attacks dating to the 1960s. Every accusation but Constand's is too old to be the subject of criminal prosecution and the outcome of the trial in Norristown, Pennsylvania, hinges on whether jurors are persuaded by her testimony.
Cosby, best known for playing a revered father figure in the 1980s television hit comedy series "The Cosby Show," has denied all the allegations against him.
Constand had previously settled a civil case, in which Cosby paid her an undisclosed sum in exchange for her agreement not to cooperate with future law enforcement efforts. During sworn depositions taken for that case, Cosby acknowledged obtaining prescription sedatives in the 1970s to give to young women. However, the entertainer, whose career and wholesome image were shattered by the accusations, has said every sexual encounter he's had was consensual, including the one with Constand.
Constand said she first met Cosby in late 2002, when she was the newly hired director of basketball operations for Temple University's women's basketball program and he was the school's most famous alumnus.
After a series of phone calls, Constand said Cosby began inviting her to dinner at his house and other events, such as a jazz concert in New York. She said she had rebuffed his sexual advances before the 2004 assault.
In January 2004, Constand said, Cosby invited her to his house again to discuss her career options. That night, he offered her three blue pills, saying they were her "friends" and would let her "relax. She said that after he assaulted her, she felt humiliated.
Constand said she continued to have contact with Cosby because she felt she compelled to because of his ties to her employer. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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