Oscar-winning director and writer Paul Haggis was arrested on charges of sexual assault and grievous bodily harm in the southern Italian city of Ostuni on Sunday, according to local police.
According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office in the nearby town of Brindisi, which ordered the arrest, the prosecutor is not Italian. The statement identifies the man arrested as a Canadian PH; Vincenzo Leo, the local Italian police officer on duty, confirmed that this was Mr Haggis.
The statement said that after two days of “sexual intercourse without consent”, he brought the woman to Papola Casale Airport in Brindisi on Friday and left her there at dawn, despite the woman’s precarious physical and psychological condition. ”
Airport and border police spotted her at the airport in a “confused state”, helped her and took her to the local police station, the statement continued. She was then taken to hospital, where she was treated under a protocol used in Italy for victims of violence against women; she subsequently reported the violence to the police.
According to the accusations, Mr. Haggis, 69, “would force the young woman he met some time ago to have sex.”
“I am confident that all charges against Mr Haggis will be dropped,” Priya Chaudhry, Mr Haggis’ lawyer, said in an email. “He is completely innocent and wants to cooperate fully with the authorities to get the truth out quickly.
Mr. Haggis, who won an Oscar in 2006 for his screenplay for the crime drama Crash and who wrote acclaimed films such as Million Dollars Baby, was in the southern city to attend the Alora Film Festival, where he was to participates in panels and discussions with the audience, starting on June 21, according to the festival program.
Mr Haggis was tried for sexual assault in New York in 2017 by publicist Hailey Brest. Ms. Brest accused Mr Haggis of forcing her to have oral sex with him before she was raped after the prime minister in 2013. Mr Haggis said the meeting with Ms Brest had been by mutual consent.
Following the case, which is still pending due to delays in the coronavirus pandemic, three other women have accused Mr Haggis of sexually assaulting them, according to the Associated Press.
Mr Haggis’ lawyer, Christine Lepera, denied the other three allegations, saying he “did not rape anyone”, according to the AP report.
Mr. Haggis began as a television writer in the 1980s and helped create several series, including Walker, Texas Ranger, a long-running drama starring Chuck Norris. But he is perhaps best known for his film work, most notably Crash, the 2005 ensemble drama he directed and co-wrote. The film won Best Picture at the Oscars, as well as Best Original Screenplay for Mr. Haggis and Bobby Moresco.
In 2009, Mr. Haggis left the Church of Scientology in support of Proposal 8, a ban on same-sex marriage adopted by voters in California and later lifted. In a letter of resignation circulated in Hollywood, Mr. Haggis wrote that the church’s position was “a stain on the integrity of our organization and a stain on us personally.” In the documentary Going Clear and elsewhere, Mr. Haggis became one of the church’s most prominent critics. And he said that in response, the church has launched a campaign of harassment.
In a lawsuit last year, Mr Haggis said the pending sexual assault case in New York had essentially frozen his career, leaving him unable to work as a director or producer.
“I had discussions with producers and financiers, but I was repeatedly told that they could not work with me until I cleared my name,” he wrote in the documentation, which was submitted as part of a request for the court to set a trial date.
Stephanie Goodman contributed to the report.
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