A fourth girl supporting the civil rape case of Haleigh Breest towards Paul Haggis on Thursday testified through video deposition that after assembly the “Crash” director at a charity occasion, he methodically tracked her down and tricked her right into a date, tried to forcibly kiss her – twice – after she’d set specific boundaries, jumped in her cab to comply with her house and solely gave up when a passerby acknowledged her hysterical screaming.
Jacinta Kuznetsov took the stand on Thursday and informed how she first met Haggis on the 2015 Toronto Movie Competition occasion for his charity, Artists for Peace and Justice. She mentioned she agreed to have a espresso the subsequent day as a enterprise courtesy, and met him on the 4 Seasons the place he was staying.
She mentioned it felt extra like a “date” – Haggis ordered wine, instantly raised matters that weren’t business-appropriate and on the finish of the assembly, invited her as much as his suite to provide her a “present.” Kuznetsov agreed that she would go so far as his door – the place he gave her a small bottle of fragrance, and organized for her ticket to a premiere she was attending that night.
Kuznetsov mentioned she was gutted when she arrived to search out she was sitting with Haggis, distant from her work colleagues. She declined his post-screening dinner invitation, however he then adopted her to an afterparty with co-workers and “shadowed” her there, insisting on shopping for her drinks and texting her whereas she was within the rest room – the place she was pouring them out and panicking.
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When she returned, she’d had sufficient: “I needed to inform him that this isn’t OK,” she testified. She mentioned when she informed him very emphatically she wasn’t curious about him romantically, he apologized – then adopted her as she left the get together and tried to kiss her outdoors as she tried to name an Uber.
“He’s now bodily assaulting me, it’s not the manipulation, these kind of predatory ways – it’s now bodily.” She mentioned she sprinted to a ready taxi however he jumped within the automobile earlier than she may lock it, inflicting her to scream “Get out!” and “Fuck off!” at him.
She mentioned he informed her to settle down, and defined that he’d merely take the cab again to his lodge after it dropped her off and pay for it.
“I simply needed to go house so badly,” she mentioned. “I assumed if I complied … I’d get house and I’d be capable to be away from him.” Kuznetsov mentioned she didn’t even look forward to the automobile to cease – she opened the door and ran as quick as she may, however Haggis caught up earlier than she acquired to her entrance door.
“You’re completely not coming as much as my residence,” she mentioned she informed him, fearing that if he did, she could be raped.
Then Haggis tried to kiss her once more, she mentioned. That’s when she began hysterically screaming, catching the eye of a pedestrian. She mentioned Haggis froze, and he or she was in a position to race to her residence and lock the door behind her.
She mentioned Haggis despatched her textual content messages the next day, appearing like nothing had occurred. “Pretty evening,” one learn.
“I needed to bodily throw my telephone, I hated it a lot,” she mentioned.
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From earlier:
The previous publicist accusing “Crash” director Paul Haggis of rape introduced DNA proof to the civil trial on Wednesday, as attorneys for Haleigh Breest walked a forensic DNA analyst by way of a extremely detailed breakdown of what was discovered on a pair of tights she says have been torn the evening of the alleged assault.
DNA matching that of Haggis, who had voluntarily submitted to a subpoenaed oral swab, was current within the type of ejaculate in 4 completely different places on the garment, in keeping with Angela Butler, who recognized herself on the stand as a “senior forensic DNA analyst and laboratory supervisor on the Serological Analysis Institute” in Richmond, Ca.
Haggis by no means denied having intercourse with Breest, and has maintained that the encounter was completely consensual. His protection has additionally indicated it’ll argue that Scientology is shifting like an occult hand to smear him after an acrimonious parting from the church.
“Ms. Butler, are you able to inform us to an affordable diploma of certainty whose DNA was within the seminal fluid of the inside crotch of Ms. Breest’s tights?” requested Ilaan Maazel, a member of Breest’s workforce.
“Mr. Haggis or somebody of his paternal lineage,” Butler testified through videoconference from her front room in Petaluma, California.
“Now, you … discovered the DNA of a number of males on these tights; is that right?” Maazel requested. Butler mentioned that she had.
Butler mentioned she had discovered the DNA of at the least three males, other than the seminal fluid from Haggis, on the “inside crotch” of the tights, in addition to separate sperm cells belonging to 2 completely different males. Not one of the different DNA had been matched to anybody, she mentioned, nor may she decide its supply with out comparative samples.
Guided by Maazel’s questioning, Butler additionally famous that sperm cells have been proven to simply switch, corresponding to in a washer, whereas seminal fluid doesn’t; that the opposite males’ DNA got here from “epithelial” cells, which could possibly be from just about anyplace on the physique; and that Haggis’ DNA was the “discernable main contributor” to the pattern.
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Breest first filed her lawsuit towards Haggis in 2017. She mentioned final week from the stand that Haggis pressured her after a film premiere to return to his Manhattan residence in 2013, the place he kissed, groped and pestered her earlier than in the end forcing her into undesirable intercourse acts.
Haggis says the encounters have been all consensual, denies wrongdoing and has recommended that his acrimonious cut up from Scientology has pushed the church to border him. Breest testified Friday that she has no connection to the church and isn’t being supported in any means by Scientology.
