Director Paul Haggis appeared in Italian courtroom Wednesday for the primary time following the sexual assault allegations lodged in opposition to him.
A choose is predicted to rule on whether or not Haggis, 69, needs to be free of custody pending further investigation into claims that he raped a British girl over the course of two days final week.
Outdoors the courthouse within the southern Italian city of Brindisi, the place Haggis is being held beneath home arrest, his lawyer reiterated that that the director and screenwriter says he’s harmless.
“Paul Haggis answered all questions and defined what occurred,” Michele Laforgia mentioned. “He declared himself, as he had already achieved proper after the detention, utterly harmless, within the sense that the intercourse he had with this girl was completely consensual.”
Haggis — who wrote and directed the Oscar-winning 2006 film “Crash” — has been ordered to stay in his visitor home in Italy through the investigation. The choose may additionally determine to maintain him beneath home arrest, or order him jailed.
The British girl, 30, was found hiding in a nook of the Brindisi airport early Wednesday morning after Haggis allegedly dropped her off there.
A flight attendant who introduced the lady to the authorities mentioned “she was destroyed” and ”she spoke with issue,” the Every day Beast reported. She was then taken to a hospital to be handled for what prosecutors described as “repeated non-consenting sexual assaults.”
Laforgia disputed these claims, saying the lady had no indicators of harm or violence perpetrated in opposition to her.
Haggis has beforehand confronted sexual misconduct claims within the US by 4 girls.
Publicist Haleigh Breest filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to Haggis in 2017 in New York. She alleges that Haggis raped her in his Soho house in 2013 following a movie premiere. The case continues to be pending and no trial date has but been set, based on The Wrap. Three different girls got here ahead with their very own allegations after Breest.
Earlier than he received the Oscar for “Crash,” Haggis additionally wrote and produced 2004’s “Million Greenback Child” and was the screenwriter for the James Bond movie “On line casino Royale” and story author for “Letters from Iwo Jima.”
He was in Italy for an arts competition.
