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Friday, February 24, 2023

Harvey Weinstein bags fresh 20-year imprisonment for sex crimes

“I never raped or sexually assaulted Jane Doe 1,” Mr Weinstein said. “I never knew this woman, and the fact is, she doesn’t know me.”

• February 24, 2023
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein [Photo Credit; GETTY Images]

Disgraced Hollywood ex-movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to a fresh 16 years imprisonment at a hearing on Thursday for a 2013 rape and sexual assault charges involving an unnamed woman in Los Angeles county, United States.

Mr Weinstein had used his status and power to commit atrocities against multiple women, especially actresses, for movie roles before the victims began to come out in 2017, giving birth to the popular #MeToo movement.

After the massive protest by members of the public, especially women’s advocacy groups, the infamous producer was sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment in a New York court for several sexual charges brought against him and has remained in prison since then.

In the latest charges against Mr Weinstein in the LA Superior Court, a jury had in December found Weinstein guilty on three counts of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object relating to one woman (Jane Doe).

During the sentencing hearing on Thursday, the 70-year-old, who now makes use of wheelchairs for mobility, denied the knowledge of knowing the woman and claimed Jane Doe, which is a fictional name for the unidentified female, is only motivated by money because of a lawsuit from her against him.

“I never raped or sexually assaulted Jane Doe 1,” Mr Weinstein said. “I never knew this woman, and the fact is, she doesn’t know me.”

Judge Lisa Lench sentenced the former movie mogul to 16 years imprisonment, which would be served after finishing the current 23 years imprisonment, spelling that Mr Weinstein, whose health is on a decline, might spend the rest of his life locked up.

Meanwhile, Mr Weinstein was not convicted of the other four allegations while he was found not guilty of one count of sexual battery relating to a massage therapist, and jurors couldn’t reach a verdict on two counts of accusations of a documentary filmmaker, Jennifer Siebel Newsom and another stemming accusation involving another woman.

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