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Crash director Paul Haggis took the stand for the second straight day at a New York courtroom the place he testified in lurid element a couple of 2013 encounter with a girl who has accused him of rape.
Haggis, 69, advised the jury Thursday that the incident involving former publicist Haleigh Breest was consensual because the twelfth day of trial bought underway—most notably refuting allegations the pair had intercourse at his SoHo loft following a Manhattan movie premiere on Jan. 31, 2013.
Haggis contradicted a lot of the 36-year-old’s earlier court docket testimony, rejecting the notion he had sexual relations together with her—past what he alleged was consensual oral intercourse—which the Hollywood screenwriter testified she consensually carried out on him.
Haggis, who stated Breest despatched him “combined alerts” after they bought to his top-floor suite, advised the court docket the pair had roughly 5 separate kissing periods, and that he gave Breest area a number of occasions after she stated “I shouldn’t,” even providing to get her a taxi house.
“I’ll take you downstairs and put you in a cab proper now if that’s what you need to do,” Haggis insisted he stated to Breest. He advised the court docket he later gave Breest a tour of his residence while exhibiting off quite a lot of trophies and awards—together with his two Oscars.
Haggis stated he later eliminated Breest’s tights together with her help.
“She kind of rolled on her again so it was simpler to get the tights off,” Haggis defined. “She lifted her butt, her buttocks… once we began sliding it down over her hips.”
As Haggis testified, Breest listened and blankly stared at Haggis from behind her legal professionals.
“At any level did Ms. Breest resist?” his lawyer Priya Chaudhry requested.
“No, she was laughing,” Haggis quipped, stating the interplay lasted about 5 seconds.
Moments earlier, Haggis had testified that Breest regarded “cartoony,” evaluating her demeanor to each Betty Boop and Jessica Rabbit when the previous publicist advised him “no, I shouldn’t.”
“It was slightly like Betty Boop,” Haggis advised the jury.
He described Breest as “bashful.”
“She was smiling,” Haggis stated. “It was like a teasing sort of smile.”
Breest, in the meantime, had testified on Oct. 20 that Haggis had regarded “just like the satan” in the identical second.
“He’s attempting to drag my tights down and I’m attempting to drag them up,” Breest advised jurors final week. “He regarded just like the satan.”
Contrastingly, Haggis then claimed that Breest later touched his groin over prime of his boxers and started “massaging” his penis.
Breest, the Million Greenback Child author stated, later put her hand on his chest, and gave him again a “assured push” onto a pillow resting on his visitor bed room’s sleigh mattress. Breest, then advised him, “I’m good at this.”
“What did you perceive that imply?” Chaudhry requested him.
“That she needed to offer me oral intercourse,” Haggis responded, who stated he then laid again on his mattress and acquired oral intercourse from Breest.
Haggis testified he finally handed out and later awoke to search out that Breest left his house. He couldn’t specify whether or not he ejaculated, regardless of his seminal fluid allegedly being discovered on a pair of tights that belonged to Breest.
Paul Haggis.
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On the stand, Haggis said he had “no reminiscence” of vaginally penetrating Breest.
“At any level that night time do you recall inserting something in Ms. Breest’s vagina?”
“No,” Haggis replied.
Throughout his afternoon cross-examination, nonetheless, Breest’s legal professionals performed a September 2019 deposition through which Haggis stated he didn’t know whether or not he vaginally penetrated Breest.
“Do you've information that you simply penetrated Ms. Breest together with your penis?” prosecution lawyer Ilann Maazel requested within the recording.
“I don’t know the best way to reply that query,” Haggis stated.
“Are you aware when you vaginally penetrated Ms. Breest together with your penis? Are you aware?”
“No,” Haggis flatly stated.
Maazel, who paused the recording, then requested, “You don’t keep in mind when you and Ms. Breest had sexual activity, is that appropriate?
“I've no reminiscence of that.”
Haggis’ testimony stood in stark distinction to Breest’s account. Breest, who testified over quite a lot of days within the civil swimsuit final week, advised the court docket that Haggis pinned her to his kitchen and forcibly kissed her earlier than he compelled her to offer oral intercourse earlier than sexually assaulting her. Breest, who stated she was “terrified,” described feeling like a “caged animal” through the alleged incident.
“[He] was slobbering throughout my face, my mouth was closed and I used to be turning my head away,” Breest testified. “I used to be startled and after a pair seconds I broke out of his maintain.”
At one level through the incident, Breest had claimed an enraged Haggis requested her how previous she was earlier than telling her “don’t act like a fucking 18-year-old” within the midst of suspected tryst.
“Why did you say that to Ms. Breest,” Chaudhry requested Haggis Thursday.
“As a result of I used to be getting such combined alerts,” Haggis stated.
Haggis, who has additionally been accused of sexually assaulting or trying to rape 4 completely different ladies between 1996 and 2015, additionally straight denied these allegations on the stand Thursday.
Haggis testified he traded quite a lot of emails with Breest, whom he noticed at different movie occasions he attended in New York, earlier than he went on up to now roughly between 20 and 30 ladies.
“I don’t know why ladies—or anybody—would lie about issues like this, make up or twist the reality,” Haggis advised his legal professional.
Haggis’ daughters, Lauren, Katy, Alissa, and son James Haggis sat entrance row within the court docket’s gallery Thursday. The Canadian screenwriter’s ex-wife, TV actress Deborah Rennard, who testified Wednesday, sat with them.
Haggis, a former Scientologist and church whistleblower, has additionally argued that the Church of Scientology manufactured the civil rape case to smear him for for publicly defecting from the faith in 2009.
Maazel paused his cross-examination for the day by quizzing Haggis on a supposed again harm which required surgical procedure 58 days previous to the alleged rape. Haggis’ authorized staff has beforehand instructed he would have been bodily incapable of raping Breest because of a again brace he’d been sporting on the time.
Haggis’ cross examination is predicted to proceed Friday.