Actress Annabella Sciorra, best known for her role as Gloria Trillo in HBO's The Sopranos, became the first accuser to testify against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in his sexual assault trial. In an emotional testimony, Sciorra shared graphic details of being violently raped by Weinstein, in the 1990s.
She described the night when Weinstein barged into her apartment while she was dressed in her pajamas, and forced himself on her. Sciorra said the alleged attack occurred in the plush Manhattan neighborhood of Gramercy Park in the winter of 1993-94 after Weinstein dropped her off at home following a business dinner at a restaurant. “He started to unbutton his shirt, and then I realised that, in his head, he wanted to have sex and I didn’t want to.” She said that she tried to push back, but he threw her on the bed pinned her hands above her head. "He had intercourse with me as I tried to fight, but I couldn't fight anymore because he had my hands locked," she told the New York jury.
Afterward, Sciorra said, he forcibly performed oral sex on her, allegedly saying, “This is for you.” “I was just shaking like a seizure,” she told the courtroom.
In a two-hour-long testimony, Sciorra also talked about confronting Weinstein about the assault weeks later, and telling him that she had blacked out. He allegedly replied: “That's what all the nice Catholic girls say. This remains between you and I.”
She added that the experience left her traumatised and she took to drinking and cutting herself.
Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting women, and has maintained that all his sexual encounters with women have been consensual. More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct but the trial, scheduled to run until March 6, relates to just two.
-with inputs from AP, Reuters
