Oscar-Winning Screenwriter and Director Paul Haggis Detained in Italy for Alleged Sexual Assault

Haggis, 69, won an Oscar in 2006 for his screenplay Accident. He was in Italy for a film festival kicking off Tuesday in Auston, which sits on the “heel” of the Italian peninsula.

LaPresse news agency and several other Italian media outlets are reporting on the alleged incident. Authorities cited a written statement from prosecutors in the nearby city of Brindisi that a “foreign teenage girl” was forced to have “unconscious” sex for two days.

Prosecutors said the woman was “forced to seek medical attention” after having sex. Two days later, on Sunday, “a woman was accompanied by a man after a dispute” at Brindisi airport. He was later “left there at dawn despite his dangerous physical and mental condition”.

Haggis’ attorney did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.