Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis is a “psychopath” and “monster,” attorneys for his rape accuser claimed Wednesday as his three-week lengthy civil case got here to a detailed in Manhattan.
Jurors will start deliberating the case Thursday morning after listening to a days-worth of closing arguments from each side — together with from Haggis’ lawyer Priya Chaudhry who painted accuser Haleigh Breest as a starstruck, spurned lover in search of revenge.
“We now have to face the chilly, exhausting reality,” Breest’s lawyer Ilann Maazel instructed the jury. “Paul Haggis is a monster. He's a psychopath. He's crafty and manipulative.
“He assaulted 5 ladies and has the gall to rise up on that stand and play the sufferer. Disgrace on him.”
Breest accused the “Million Greenback Child” screenwriter of raping her in his Soho condominium on Jan. 31, 2013, after a movie premiere occasion the place she was working at her part-time publicist job.
Haggis has maintained the encounter was consensual.The jurors heard testimony from 4 different ladies who additionally accused Haggis of rape and sexual assault.
Haggis has denied these allegations as effectively, alleging that the Church of Scientology cooked up the false accusations as a part of its vendetta towards him after he publicly cut up with the church in 2009 after over 30 years as a member.
Haggis “desires you to imagine that the Church of Scientology rounded up all these ladies all in an unlimited plot towards him,” Maazel mentioned, calling the Scientology protection “a sideshow.”
Haggis’ attorneys have admitted that there isn't any proof linking Breest to Scientology.
“The Scientology protection is the final cynical gasp of a determined man,” Maazel mentioned. “How silly does he suppose we're?”
Maazel additionally reminded jurors of the textual content message that Breest despatched a pal the day after the alleged rape recounting that “I saved saying no,” to Haggis.
Maazel requested the jury of three ladies and three males to award Breest no matter greenback quantity they see match, for the trauma and haunting reminiscences of that evening.
“She has had intercourse as soon as in 10 years” since, Maazel mentioned. “She has not been capable of have a boyfriend, marry, have youngsters.”
Earlier Wednesday, Chaudhry described Breest as a liar whose story has modified many occasions over the past decade relying on whom she spoke to and it will definitely developed to grow to be a story of rape after she felt rejected by the 69-year-old “Crash” director.
Paul Haggis’ lawyer instructed jurors throughout closing arguments that rape accuser Haleigh Breest was a spurned lover who filed her lawsuit out of revenge.
Haggis’ lawyer Priya Chaudhry mentioned Breest was a liar whose story modified a number of occasions by way of the years because the 2013 alleged rape.
“There are three ‘R’ phrases that occurred right here —rejection, remorse and revenge — and none of those ‘R’ phrases are rape,” Chaudhry mentioned.
“Her model is at greatest a cocktail of false reminiscences and lies,” Chaudhry mentioned.
Breest and Haggis continued to see one another at movie occasions for years after and exchanged a number of pleasant emails within the month following the alleged rape.
Chaudhry claimed that Breest was “sniffing” and “hinting” for an additional date with Haggis in these emails however turned bitter when he by no means requested — and finally began displaying up at occasions with different ladies, together with a stupendous Italian actress.
A spurned Breest then determined to get revenge by bringing her 2017 go well with towards Haggis, the lawyer argued.
Breest’s attorneys additionally blasted the go well with out to the media on the time so their consumer may grow to be well-known, Chaudhry claimed.
“She is a publicist,” Chaudhry mentioned. “What she does is create publicity. She desires to be well-known … she desires you to provide her Paul Haggis’ hard-earned cash.”
Breest, nevertheless, has claimed that she needed to stay cordial and professional with Haggis after the alleged rape for the sake of her job.
Maazel claimed that Haggis tried to “gaslight” Breest and “faux nothing occurred” when he emailed her the following day asking her to not publish his photograph taken on the occasion the evening earlier than in order that Scientologists couldn’t monitor him. And Maazel mentioned that Breest tried to “normalize” what occurred to her.
Chaudhry additionally argued that the Church of Scientology could possibly be behind Breest and 4 different ladies’s sexual assault allegations towards her consumer.
“Scientology is completely hooked up to him like a darkish shadow,” the lawyer mentioned.
“We all know that [Haggis] is considered one of [Scientology’s] high three enemies,” Chaudhry mentioned. “There's robust circumstantial proof right here.”
Chaudhry mentioned one robust piece of circumstantial proof is the truth that Scientology out of the blue stopped its marketing campaign to smash Haggis’ life proper after Breest introduced her case.
“As soon as this lawsuit was filed in 2017, for the primary time in its historical past … they out of the blue cease pursuing Paul Haggis,” Chaudhry mentioned. “Why? Is it as a result of they achieved their mission to completely destroy him?”
“King of Queens” actress Leah Remini — additionally a former Scientologist — testified by video Monday on Haggis’ behalf about how the church used litigation to “destroy” folks’s lives and mentioned that Haggis “is the sufferer right here.”
Scientology denied any connection to the case towards Haggis in an announcement on Monday.
“For over a decade, Haggis has penned false tales concerning the Church in an effort to distract from no matter dangerous acts he has engaged in. The church has nothing to do with the claims towards Haggis nor does it have any relation to the accusers or to the attorneys litigating the case.”
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