Fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski was hit by fresh sex crime allegations by a British actress who claimed the director 'forced himself' upon her just after her 16th birthday.
Fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski was hit by fresh sex crime allegations by a British actress who claimed the director 'forced himself' upon her just after her 16th birthday.
Polanski, who is fighting extradition to the United States to face sentencing in his 1978 child sex case, was accused by actress Charlotte Lewis, 42, of abusing her at his apartment in Paris nearly 30 years ago.
In a press conference at the Beverly Hills offices of attorney Gloria Allred yesterday, Lewis said she was speaking out to counter suggestions from Polanski's legal team that his earlier case was an isolated incident.
"I am also a victim of Roman Polanski. He sexually abused me in the worst possible way when I was just 16 years old," Lewis said in a prepared statement.
Allred said Lewis had given statements to Los Angeles police and prosecutors which she hoped would be taken into consideration if Polanski were extradited back to the United States from Switzerland, where he is under house arrest.
"It is very important that the District Attorney and the Swiss authorities are armed with this information as they decide Mr Polanski's fate," said Lewis, who had a minor role in Polanski's 1986 period flop Pirates.
"Mr Polanski knew I was only 16 years old when he met me and forced himself upon me in his apartment in Paris. He took advantage of me and I have lived with the effects of his behaviour ever since it occurred," she said.
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