Bill Cosby has denied all the allegations of sexual assault against him. (Reuters)
Norristown, Pennsylvania:
The woman who accused Bill Cosby of the sexual assault that led to his criminal trial testified on Tuesday that she felt "frozen" after taking three pills the entertainer gave her before the assault. Andrea Constand's voice quivered as she began describing the 2004 incident at Cosby's Philadelphia-area home while Cosby, 79, at times shook his head. "In my head, I was trying to get my hands to move, my legs to move, but I was frozen," she said after describing how Cosby had spent months gaining her trust. "I wanted it to stop."
Dozens of women have accused Cosby of sexual assaulting them, often after plying them with drugs, in a series of attacks dating to the 1960s.
Every accusation but Constand's is too old to be the subject of criminal prosecution and the outcome of trial in Norristown, Pennsylvania, hinges on whether jurors are persuaded by her testimony.
Cosby, best known for playing a revered father figure in the 1980s television hit comedy series "The Cosby Show," has denied all the allegations against him.
Constand said she first met Cosby in late 2002, when she was the newly hired director of basketball operations for Temple University's women's basketball program and he was the school's most famous alumnus.
After a series of phone calls, Constand said Cosby began inviting her dinner at his house and other events, such as a jazz concert in New York.
"He was a Temple friend, somebody I trusted, a mentor and somewhat of an older figure to me," Constand testified.
She said she had rebuffed his sexual advances before the 2004 assault.
In January 2004, Constand said, Cosby invited her to his house again to discuss her career options. That night he offered her three blue pills, saying they were her "friends" and would let her "relax."
When she asked if they were herbal, he nodded, she said.
"I said, 'I trust you,' and I swallowed the pills," she told jurors.
She said that after he assaulted her, she felt humiliated.
She returned the next evening and asked what the pills had been but did not get an answer.
"I realized at that point he was never going to tell me what he gave me," she said.
Constand said she continued to have contact with Cosby because she felt she had to discuss Temple as part of her job.
(Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Trott)
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dozens of women have accused Cosby of sexual assaulting them, often after plying them with drugs, in a series of attacks dating to the 1960s.
Every accusation but Constand's is too old to be the subject of criminal prosecution and the outcome of trial in Norristown, Pennsylvania, hinges on whether jurors are persuaded by her testimony.
Cosby, best known for playing a revered father figure in the 1980s television hit comedy series "The Cosby Show," has denied all the allegations against him.
Constand said she first met Cosby in late 2002, when she was the newly hired director of basketball operations for Temple University's women's basketball program and he was the school's most famous alumnus.
After a series of phone calls, Constand said Cosby began inviting her dinner at his house and other events, such as a jazz concert in New York.
"He was a Temple friend, somebody I trusted, a mentor and somewhat of an older figure to me," Constand testified.
She said she had rebuffed his sexual advances before the 2004 assault.
In January 2004, Constand said, Cosby invited her to his house again to discuss her career options. That night he offered her three blue pills, saying they were her "friends" and would let her "relax."
When she asked if they were herbal, he nodded, she said.
"I said, 'I trust you,' and I swallowed the pills," she told jurors.
She said that after he assaulted her, she felt humiliated.
She returned the next evening and asked what the pills had been but did not get an answer.
"I realized at that point he was never going to tell me what he gave me," she said.
Constand said she continued to have contact with Cosby because she felt she had to discuss Temple as part of her job.
(Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Trott)
© Thomson Reuters 2017
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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