Trial opens in New York against filmmaker Paul Haggis, accused of rape

Oscar-winning Canadian filmmaker Paul Haggis He sat this Wednesday on the bench of the New York justice after being accused by an advertising agent of having raped her in 2013, which the interested party denies.

The director of “Crash” (“Collision”) and screenwriter of “Million Dollar Baby” y “Casino Royale”69, arrived at Manhattan’s Southern Circuit Court on Wednesday morning, an AFP photographer found.

Advertising agent Haleigh Breest accused the filmmaker in December 2017 of abusing her and raping her in January 2013, when she was 26 years old.

In full swing of movement #MeToo of complaints of sexual violence and sexism against women, the filmmaker was accused by three other women of sexual assault. But in New York he only appears because of Breest’s complaint.

Last June, Haggis had been arrested in southern Italy, after a young woman’s complaint of sexual assault, which he denied.

According to several US media, the filmmaker’s lawyers suggested Wednesday before the popular jury of the court that Breest’s complaint was remotely directed by the Church of Scientology after their breakup. A thesis that the complainant’s lawyers refuted.

In her complaint, Breest said that on January 31, 2013, after a film screening in Manhattan, the director insisted that they go have a drink at his house, instead of a bar as she wanted. Once there, Haggis forced her to fellate him and then raped her.

Known for being one of the creators of the series “Walker Texas Ranger”Haggis received the 2006 Oscars for best picture and best original screenplay for “Collision.” He was also a screenwriter for “Million Dollar Baby”, for “Letters from Iwo Jima”, by Clint Eastwood, and for the episodes of the saga of the saga James Bond“Casino Royale” y “Quantum of Solace”.