Child assault claims
Cops probe Polanski over 1975 case
THE Los Angeles Police Department is investigating film director Roman Polanski for allegedly molesting a child in 1975.
The report involves Marianne Barnard, who claimed that Polanski made the advances when she was 10 years old, the Los Angeles Times reported. Barnard tweeted in October that Polanski had taken photos of her naked and in a fur coat on a beach in Malibu and that he “went on from there”.
She reported the incident to the LAPD in the same month, the Times said.
Polanski’s lawyer Harland Braun called the claim “bogus”. “We have contacted the LAPD and will turn over all information we have and urge them to do a complete and thorough investigation,” he said.
No charges can be filed against Polanski in the case since the statute of limitations has expired. Several women have levelled similar accusations against the veteran Polish-French director recently.
Swiss prosecutors said in October they were investigating sex-crime allegations against Polanski after a former German actress reported that the filmmaker raped her in Switzerland 45 years ago when she was 15 years old. Another woman, identified only as “Robin”, claimed in August she was sexually assaulted by Polanski in 1973 when she was 16.
In 2010, British actress Charlotte Lewis said Polanksi sexually assaulted her in 1983 when she was a teenager.
Polanski pleaded guilty in California in 1977 to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13year-old girl, but fled to Europe in 1978 before his sentencing.