The American comedian Bill Cosby paid ten percent of the bail of one million dollars set by a court to remain free pending trial after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2004.
With a straight face and wearing a gray sweatshirt and dark pants, Cosby briefly appeared before a court in Elkins Park, a suburb of Philadelphia (EE. UU.), hours after the Prosecutor formulated against a charge of “aggravated indecent assault”.
The actor, against which it had issued an arrest warrant, went through a cloud of journalists and nearly tripped before reaching the door of the court.
The comedian, 78, surrendered his passport and paid in cash 10% of the deposit to continue free , since the judge set a preliminary hearing of the case on January 14.
After appearing for about fifteen minutes on the court, the comic turned into a black SUV escorted by a police vehicle to a nearby police station to be signed and provide fingerprints.
Cosby appeared before the court hours after the Attorney Montgomery County formulate charges against the actor in relation Andrea Constand, a former employee of Temple University (Pennsylvania) which holds that artist drugged and raped her at his mansion in the city of Philadelphia .
Charges carry a penalty of up to ten years in prison in a case that may result in one of the most notorious trials of all time against a Hollywood celebrity.
The comic, a married father of five children, first faces charges in connection with fifty women who accuse him of sexual abuse , a repeatedly denied allegations that the actor but have destroyed his image of “American Dad”.
In a press conference, the first deputy prosecutor of Montgomery County, Kevin Steele, said the indictment is based on research into a “relationship” with the victim interpreter that originated in the work of Constand in the basketball team at Temple University, where he studied Cosby.
According to Steele, who presented the charges as a result of “new information” provided in July, the events occurred one night early 2004 in the mansion of TV star, famous for such hit shows as “The Cosby Show”.
The woman, now 42, is a native of Canada, visited then Cosby at home, where he made two attempts at sexual approach that were rejected, so he urged the victim to take “came with three blue pills” to immobilize it.
“The evidence is compelling and sufficient to proceed” against the artist, said the prosecutor, adding that “a person in that state can not give consent.”
Months after the event, Constand returned to Canada where he lived with his mother, who reported in January 2005 his nightmare, according to the affidavit issued by the authorities.
That same month, the victim decided to inform the police of abuse and opened a research, although Montgomery County Prosecutor refused then criminal charges.
The lawyer Constand, Dolores Troiani, recently stated that his client is “a strong woman” ready to “do anything” requiring the authorities to cooperate in the case, according to US media.
Steele today announced the indictment few days before the deadline of twelve that Pennsylvania law requires to be prescribed a sex offense .
The prosecution acted after Bill Cosby demanded last December 14 for defamation seven of the fifty women who accuse him of sexually abusing them.
His lawyers argued that day that “Mr. Cosby says, bluntly, he neither drugged and sexually abused accused and that each defendant has maliciously published and knowingly untrue and accusations from autumn 2014 to Today, in an attempt to damage his reputation and extract financial benefits. “
The interpreter was in the sixties, seventies and eighties of the last century a landmark of television comedy in America.
The comic marked an era with such popular programs as “The Cosby Show”, broadcast by NBC, which has already announced that because of sex scandals, no longer working with the comedian.
In this “show” Cosby played the wise and understanding Dr. Cliff Huxtable, friendly character on which he built a benevolent public image which has now been made debris.
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