Paul Haggis pleads innocent after his arrest for sexual abuse in Italy

Canadian director and screenwriter Paul Haggis, Oscar winner for Crash (2005) and detained in Italy Accused of sexually abusing a woman for two days, he pleads “completely innocent”as explained by his lawyer.

“We are waiting to be summoned by the judge for the preliminary investigations (who instructs the precautionary measures in the Italian law) for the interrogation of guarantee and give our version of the facts“, said the lawyer Michele Laforgia.

Haggis, screenwriter of films such as million dollar baby girl (2004) or Royal casino (2006), was arrested this Sunday in the Italian city of Ostuni (south) by order of the Prosecutor of Brindisi, accused of having sexually abused a woman for two days.

He is charged with the crimes of sexual violence and aggravated personal injury.

For now he has house arrest.

The 69-year-old Canadian is under house arrest, locked up in his home in Ostuni waiting for a judge to decide whether to validate his arrest and elaborates it.

“Paul Haggis from the first moment claimed to be completely innocent and asked for the maximum speed in all necessary investigations to clarify the facts “, said the lawyer.

And he added: “Obviously, before knowing the acts that support the precautionary measure and being heard by the judicial authority, we cannot declare anything else or enter to assess the accusation”.

The audience will be here soon

The hearing and his interrogation will be scheduled this week, before Thursday, June 23, he advanced.

The prosecutor of Brindisi, Antonio Negro, and his replacement, Livia Orlando, support this the director allegedly forced a foreign woman to have sex for two days and then abandon it at Papola Casale airport, near Brindisi, despite its “precarious” physical and psychological conditions.

The British woman was assisted by airport staff and the customs police, who accompanied her to file a complaint, and then transport her to the Brindisi hospital where the protocol dedicated to victims of sexual violence was activated.

What the research says

“According to the elements gathered, the suspect Paul Haggis he allegedly forced the young woman, known to him for some time, to have sexual intercourse“, claim prosecutors.

Haggis was in that Apulian town, in Italian “heel of the boot”, to participate in the “Then Fest” party, which after his arrest canceled his participation.

With these new facts, they have come to light some background on the director and screenwriter Paul Haggisthat do not leave it firmly, but on the contrary.

In January 2018, four women in the United States charged Haggis, one of the perpetrators of Million dollar baby girl for varying expenses from sexual assault to stalking or rapefollowing a complaint filed in New York by publicist Haleigh Breest.

This could weigh when he is tried for these new charges in Italy, where he now awaits a hearing to be held this week.

Source: EFE

wd