Yahoo Movies LAPD investigate Roman Polanski over allegation he sexually assaulted 10-year-old girl
Roman Polanski is being investigated by the LAPD over new allegations of sexual assault.
Marianne Barnard, who is an artist, said that Polanski molested her in 1975 during a photoshoot in Malibu, California, when she was 10-years-old.
She says that Polanski had her pose naked in a fur coat during the shoot, and has now launched a petition to have the 84-year-old director kicked off the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
At the time of publishing, the petition had over 20,000 supporters.
“When I was 10 years old, Roman Polanski photographed me naked under an open fur coat on the rocks at deserted Will Rogers State beach in Malibu. I believe my mother arranged the encounter,” she writes.
“After it happened, I didn’t say anything to anyone. I wish that I had been brave enough to speak out, tell a friend, their parent or even a teacher. Maybe if I had, the other girls wouldn’t have been assaulted by Polanski (a convicted statutory rapist) also. That’s a terrible heartache to carry.”
She added that he expulsion from the Academy would be ‘a small consequence for him considering his crimes and the great amount of harm he has caused me and his other victims’.
The LAPD told the Los Angeles Times that they would not be able to prosecute Polanski over the claim, due to the statute of limitations having expired, but that it may assist in the prosecution of other cases.
Polanski’s lawyer denied the allegations to TMZ.
However, Barnard has further claimed that Polanski has hired a private investigator to ‘harass me and my relatives’.
Taking to Twitter, she said: “The reason Roman Polanski has told the press that he’s hired a private investigator to harass me and my relatives is to silence other women who have come forward to police but, not publicly. And, to silence his victims who haven’t spoken out yet at all.”
The reason Roman Polanski has told the press that he’s hired a private investigator to harass me and my relatives is to silence other women who have come forward to police but, not publicly. And, to silence his victims who haven’t spoken out yet at all.
— Marianne Barnard (M) (@Marianne_M_B) December 13, 2017
Polanski pleaded guilty to drugging and raping a 13-year-old model, Samantha Gailey, during a shoot for Vogue magazine in 1978.
He served 42 days in prison as part of a plea bargain, but on hearing that the arrangement was to be overturned by a judge, fled the US for France.
Others have since come forward alleging rape and sexual assault, including British actress Charlotte Lewis, Renate Langer, and Mallory Millett, and another identified as Robin who says Polanski ‘sexually victimised’ her in 1973.
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