On Wednesday, a prosecutor stood before jurors and said that Harvey Weinstein used his power to rape young women and silence them in the aftermath. Meghan Hast, the Assistant District Attorney, retold stories of multiple assaults involving Harvey Weinstein, one case, in particular, was Jessica Mann.

The prosecutor claims that Mann will testify about her relationship with Harvey Weinstein, in which she was trapped for years and couldn’t escape due to his power over her. Mann claims she was so traumatized by Harvey’s actions that she thought about killing herself.

In October of 2017, Mann only then started to process what had really happened to her. Hast began her statement by showing images of Harvey hanging out with some of the most famous people in the world, insinuating that many of the women felt powerless against him.

In her statement, she added, “the evidence will be clear that the man stated right there was not just a titan in Hollywood,” but also a rapist. Hast also told the stories of Miriam Haleyi, Annabella Sciorra, and Mann. The allegations from the aforementioned women provide the foundation of the five-count indictment.

Furthermore, it was Hast’s goal to explain why the women refused to report the incidents to the police, or tell other people in the public. She claims they simply had to stay silent for the sake of their professional careers. She claimed Harvey was using his position to string women along for years.

According to Hast, Harvey pushed himself into Annabella Sciorra’s home one night and suddenly started taking his shirt off. Sciorra told him to stop; she told him to leave her house, but he just wouldn’t stop. She felt powerless, gave up, and simply hoped for the sexual encounter to be over.

At the moment, the disgraced producer is battling against five counts of sexual assault, rape, and criminal sex acts.

Advertisement

If Harvey is convicted, he’ll face a life sentence. Moreover, the producer faces an additional four charges in Los Angeles for raping and assaulting a woman in 2013.