Canadian director Paul Haggis was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a woman in Italy. Photo: AP
Canadian director and screenwriter Paul Haggis, Oscar winner for “Crash” (2005), was arrested today in the Italian city of Ostuni (south) on charges of sexually abusing a woman for two days, according to Italian media.
Haggis, accused of crimes of sexual violence and aggravated personal injury, is in that Apulian town to participate in the “Allora Fest” festival, according to what was reported by the public TV RAI, citing a statement from the Brindisi prosecutor’s office.
According to investigators, the director forced a foreign woman to have sex for two days and then abandoned her at Papola Casale airport, near Brindisi, despite her “precarious” physical and psychological conditions.
The woman was assisted by airport and customs police staff, who accompanied her to file a complaint, and then transported her to the Brindisi hospital where the protocol dedicated to victims of sexual violence was activated.
Haggis, 69, author of the Oscar-winning “Crash” and screenplays such as “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) or “Casino Royal” (2006), is being held as a precautionary measure, according to the order issued by the prosecutor Antonio Negro and the his deputy Livia Orlando.
“According to the elements gathered, the suspects would have forced the young woman, known to him for some time, to have sexual relations”, say the prosecutors.
In January 2018, four women in the United States accused the director of incidents ranging from sexual assault to harassment or rape, following a complaint filed in New York by publicist Haleigh Breest.
With information from EFE
DD
Source: Clarin
