Canadian filmmaker Paul Haggis, winner of two Oscars for “Collision” (2005), has been sentenced to pay at least 7.5 million dollars to a woman who accused him of sexual abuse in 2013, a jury decreed.
In addition to the approximately €7.4 million after the exchange, the jury also ruled that additional punitive damages must be awarded, but the amount must be decided later.
Paul Haggis, 69, has been accused since December 2017 by publicist Haleigh Brest of having raped her in January 2013, when the target was 26 years old.
Brest, 36, said Haggis subjected her to unwanted advances and forced her to perform oral sex on him and raped her despite her begging him to stop.
In turn, the director said that it was the publicist who initiated the oral sex in a totally consensual interaction, referring to the fact that he did not remember having sexual relations.
Jurors sided with Breest, who said he suffered psychological and professional damage after meeting Haggis.
“I thought I was going to hitchhike home. I agreed to have a drink. What happened should never have happened. And it had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with him and his actions,” the complainant said.
The also screenwriter of “Million Dollar Baby – Lost Dreams” (2004) and “007 – Casino Royale” (2006) began his trial last month in New York.
He had already been accused of sexual assault by other women, but in New York he is only responsible for Brest’s complaints.
In her complaint, Haleigh Breest said that on the night of January 31, 2013, after a movie was shown in Manhattan, the director insisted that the woman go to his house for a drink, when she had said that she preferred to go to a pub. . In her apartment, Paul Haggis made many advances before forcing her to perform oral sex and raping her.
Known for being one of the creators of the television series “Walker, the Texas Ranger”, which aired in Portugal in the 1990s, Paul Haggis received the Oscars for Best Performance and Best Original Screenplay for “Collision”. in 2006.
The director was also a screenwriter for Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (2004) and “The Flags of Our Fathers” (2006), and Martin Campbell’s “007 – Casino Royale” (2006), “007 – Quantum of Solace ( 2008), by Marc Foster.
Source: TSF
