PARIS — A girl accusing French actor Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault informed a landmark trial in Paris on Wednesday that he groped her buttocks and her breasts a number of instances in three separate incidents on a movie set.
Depardieu, 76, is accused of groping a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant throughout filming in 2021 of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Inexperienced Shutters”). He denies any sexual assault.
Day 3 of the Paris trial centered on the testimony of the youthful plaintiff, who mentioned Depardieu first groped her backside when she was alone with him for a short second between the backstage space and the movie set.
“Out of the blue, he put his hand on my butt,” she mentioned, including she was “beneath shock,” “petrified,” and mentioned nothing.
In a second incident, she mentioned Depardieu all of the sudden put each his palms on her breasts: “I mentioned no, I used to be scared.”
She additionally described telling Depardieu “no” throughout a 3rd related incident.
The plaintiff mentioned she reported the problem to her direct supervisor, who then alerted others in command of the movie manufacturing, prompting anger from the actor.
Depardieu repeatedly denied the allegations Wednesday in courtroom, saying : “I’m not like that.”
“I feel that possibly, I don’t know, she was cautious due to my status of being vulgar, crude, impolite,” Depardieu mentioned. “However I’m not solely that. I nonetheless respect individuals.”
The actor additionally informed the courtroom that he’s nearly all the time accompanied by aides on the movie set, together with his physique guard, and recommended that he would hardly ever discover himself alone with a movie employee.
On Tuesday, Depardieu acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language with the set dresser who accused him of sexual assault. He mentioned he grabbed her hips throughout an argument, however denied that his habits was sexual.
The Related Press doesn’t determine by identify individuals who say they had been sexually assaulted until they consent to. Neither ladies has finished so on this case.
The four-day trial was to proceed Thursday, with the decision anticipated at a later date.
The actor faces as much as 5 years in jail and a high quality of 75,000 euros ($81,000) if convicted.
