Paul Haggis, director of ‘Crash’, convicted of rape and sexual abuse of Haleigh Breest

After a three-week civil trial, Paul Haggis, Oscar winner for the movie “Crash”, was convicted in New York for being responsible for the rape and sexual abuse of Haleigh Breest in 2013, as reported by Variety. Breest, who was 26 when the events occurred, proceeded to denounce the director in 2017 and finally saw a resolution in his favor. “I am grateful that I had the opportunity to seek justice and accountability from a jury and that the jury followed the facts and believed me.”Breest said.

Haleigh Breest decided to sue the director in 2017 for forcing her to oral sex on her and then raping her in her New York apartment.. Breest said in his testimony, which lasted several hours, that he was working as a film publicist at the time and reluctantly agreed to have a drink in the director’s apartment afterwards. will refuse to meet in a public placeas she had suggested. Haggis, for his part, said he doesn’t remember having sex with her, other than oral sexwhich in his opinion had been consensual and even voluntarily initiated by Breest, who according to him had told him he was very good at this.

The judge reproduced fragments of the original statements by Haggis and Brest in video format. In him, Haggis initially denied having penetrated Breest’s vagina.. Later he said so “I certainly could have”claiming: “My best memory is falling asleep after having oral sex, but that’s because I can’t swear what happened next. I don’t know if it happened or not. I have no memories. “

Haggis’ attorney had suggested that what Breest was looking for was “revenge and money”arguing that for her it was not about justice, but about “a blatant embezzlement of money”. According to the lawyer, the lawsuit had “completely destroyed [la carrera de Haggis], but for Haleigh, this case is about money. It’s a pay day “. However, in his testimony Breest said he only decided to sue when Haggis publicly condemned Harvey Weinstein. after his sexual assault allegations that same year. “I want Paul Haggis to be held accountable for what he did to me was wrong”Brest said last month. Five years after the complaint, and almost a decade after the facts, the verdict of the jury, composed of four men and two women, found Haggis guilty of the three counts of rape and sexual abuse..

It is not the only one

After Breest’s testimony, dozens of women testified about Haggis’ aggressive and threatening behavior, including Angelina Jolie and Léa Seydoux. On more than one occasion, his behavior had led to sexual assault.

In 2018, three women broke their silence, motivated by the cause of Haleigh Breest and also reported Haggis for sexual abuse and, in the case of one of them, rape. One of the three women who testified to her stated that she worked with the director on a television program in 1996. The woman says that Haggis forcibly kissed her in an office and, when she asked him to stop, threatened her for her professional future. According to El Mundo, “He asked her if she wanted to continue working in the audiovisual industry. Later, Haggis forced her to do oral sex on him and then penetrated her.”. The other two testimonies assure that Haggis harassed them and tried to rape them in 2005 and 2008.

this June, the director was arrested in Italy after a woman reported him for abusing her for two days. It was a foreign woman in a precarious situation who, after forcing her to have sex at that time, left her alone at the Italian airport.

“The biggest source of solace on this five-year legal journey was the support I heard from women who bravely shared their stories and let me know I was not alone”concluded Brest after the opinion.