‘MEETING THE ACCUSED TO SHOW YOUR FILM WAS YOUR BIG BREAK’
Alleged victim denies director upset her
Director at a film event AN actress got upset when a an Irish director she accused of sexual assault didn’t like her film, a court heard yesterday. And she thought having Baftanominated Stephen Fingleton round for lunch would be her “big break”, jurors were told.
Defence lawyer Orla Daly said Fingleton, 35, had been a “bit tactless” and not very complimentary about the film she had written, directed and appeared in. Quizzing the woman at Isleworth Crown Court, Ms Daly added: “I suggest you wanted to hear his opinion.
“You came back into the room and said to him, ‘Did you love it’? “He was a bit tactless about your film, he wasn’t very complimentary about it.
“You started to get a bit upset and you said that your dreams never worked out.”
But the alleged victim denied all of these claims.
The court heard Fingleton, from Enniskillen, had exchanged numbers with the woman at an industry party.
It’s alleged he told her he was looking for an actress for a film and eventually they arranged to have lunch at her Fulham flat on October 27, 2017.
ISLEWORTH CROWN COURT YESTERDAY
The jury of six women and six men heard that after lunch the accused grabbed her head and pushed it towards his crotch and said: “You get down there, you get down there.”
The woman claimed she then told Fingleton she had thought it was a business meeting but he told her: “I don’t separate the two.”
But Ms Daly said: “There was no point at all where he tried to touch your head to move it towards his crotch, was there?”
The woman, in her 20s and who sobbed during her evidence, said: “He did that.”
The jury heard when she told Fingleton she was not interested he had held her hands and tried to kiss her.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, she added: “As he was holding my hands I remember thinking he is much stronger than me and he could rape me if he wanted to and I remember just shouting, ‘You have to leave now’.”
Fingleton denies one count of sexual assault.
Previously, the woman told jurors she started crying and told him to leave but Fingleton had hugged her, stroked her hair and put his hand under her T-shirt.
The jury heard after Fingleton left she texted her friend and said: “I met a director and he was totally Harvey Weinstein.”
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward told the court during the lunch Fingleton began to bring up sexual topics “out of blue” such as whether she had done nudity.
The trial continues.
You got a bit upset and said your dreams never worked out ORLA DALY