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The Oscar-winning director and author Paul Haggis was arrested on expenses of aggravated sexual violence and aggravated private accidents within the Southern Italian metropolis of Ostuni on Sunday, based on the native police.
In accordance with an announcement from the prosecutor’s workplace within the close by metropolis of Brindisi, which ordered the arrest, the accuser was not Italian. The assertion identifies the person who was arrested as P.H., a Canadian; Vincenzo Leo, the responsibility officer of the native Italian police, confirmed it was Mr. Haggis.
The assertion stated that after two days of “nonconsensual intercourse,” he had introduced the girl to the Papola Casale airport in Brindisi on Friday and left her there “on the first lights of daybreak, regardless of the precarious bodily and psychological circumstances of the girl.”
The airport’s employees and the border police observed her within the airport in “confusional state,” assisted her and took her to the native police workplace, the assertion continued. She was then dropped at a hospital the place she was handled following a protocol utilized in Italy for victims of violence towards ladies; she subsequently reported the violence to the police.
In accordance with the accusations, Mr. Haggis, 69, “would have pressured the younger lady, that he had met a while earlier than, to endure sexual activity.”
“I’m assured that every one allegations shall be dismissed towards Mr. Haggis,” Priya Chaudhry, a lawyer for Mr. Haggis, stated in an electronic mail. “He’s completely harmless, and keen to completely cooperate with the authorities so the reality comes out rapidly.”
Mr. Haggis, who gained a screenwriting Oscar in 2006 for the crime drama “Crash,” and who wrote acclaimed motion pictures resembling “Million Greenback Child,” was within the southern metropolis to attend the Allora movie pageant, the place he was set to take part in panels and discussions with the viewers, beginning on June 21, based on the pageant’s program.
Mr. Haggis has been sued for sexual assault in New York in 2017 by a publicist, Haleigh Breest. Ms. Breest accused Mr. Haggis of forcing her to present him oral intercourse earlier than raping her after a premiere in 2013. Mr. Haggis has contended that the encounter with Ms. Breest was consensual.
Following the lawsuit, which remains to be pending due to delays associated to the coronavirus pandemic, three different ladies accused Mr. Haggis of sexually assaulting them, based on The Related Press.
A lawyer for Mr. Haggis, Christine Lepera, has denied the three different accusations, saying “he didn’t rape anyone,” based on The A.P.’s report.
Mr. Haggis bought his begin as a TV author within the Eighties and went on to assist create a number of sequence, together with “Walker, Texas Ranger,” the long-running drama starring Chuck Norris. However he’s maybe finest identified for his movie work, notably “Crash,” the 2005 ensemble drama he directed and co-wrote. The movie gained finest image on the Academy Awards in addition to finest authentic screenplay for Mr. Haggis and Bobby Moresco.
In 2009, Mr. Haggis left the Church of Scientology over its assist of Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage handed by California voters and later overturned. In a resignation letter that was circulated in Hollywood, Mr. Haggis wrote that the church’s place was “a stain on the integrity of our group and a stain on us personally.” Within the documentary “Going Clear” and elsewhere, Mr. Haggis has grow to be among the many extra distinguished critics of the church. And he has stated that, in response, the church has mounted a marketing campaign of harassment.
In a court docket submitting final yr, Mr. Haggis asserted that the pending sexual assault lawsuit in New York had basically frozen his profession, leaving him unable to work as a director or producer.
“I’ve had discussions with producers and financiers, however have been repeatedly instructed that they can not work with me till I clear my identify,” he wrote within the submitting, which was submitted as a part of a movement requesting that the court docket set a trial date.
Stephanie Goodman contributed reporting.
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