Cosby now faces civil trial on abuse

COMEDIAN Bill Cosby will face a civil trial in July 2018 for sexual assault over an alleged incident at the Playboy Mansion more than four decades ago, a California judge has ruled.

Judy Huth has accused Cosby, 79, of giving her alcohol and then sexually abusing her around 1974 when she was 15 at the Los Angeles mansion famed for hedonistic parties.

Cosby is already scheduled to face a separate civil trial next June in a lawsuit filed by Chloe Goins, a former model who has accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her at the mansion in 2008.

Tuesday’s court hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court took place less than two weeks after Cosby’s criminal trial for sexual assault in Pennsylvania ended in a mistrial, when a jury failed to reach a verdict.