New accuser claims Polanski raped her at 15 then gave her a role in his movie
roman Polanski has been accused of raping a 15-year- old girl who later appeared in one of his movies.
The oscar-winning director allegedly attacked renate Langer, now a 61-year-old who worked as a model and actress.
The alleged assault in February 1972 is the latest in a string of claims made by women against 84-year-old Polanski. Detectives in the Swiss town of St Gallen met German miss Langer last week, and she made a formal criminal complaint.
The authorities in Switzerland must now decide whether it happened too long ago to take the matter further, or whether prosecutors think they can secure a conviction.
‘The case is being examined,’ said a spokesman for St Gallen police, confirming claims made public by ms Langer. Polanski, who is married with two children, pleaded guilty in the US in 1977 to having unlawful sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer but fled the country before he could be sentenced.
He now lives almost permanently in Paris with his family, as France does not have an extradition treaty with america. miss Langer was first introduced to Polanski while she was working for a modelling agency in munich as a child. He invited her to his house in Gstaad, and it was then that she says she was raped. miss Langer later accepted a small role in Polanski’s film What? – which follows an american girl’s relationship with a
‘This influenced my whole life’
retired pimp – and again says she was raped by the director in rome.
‘This had an influence on all of my life,’ she said. asked by The new York Times why she did not report the matter earlier, miss Langer said: ‘my mother would have had a heart attack.
‘I felt ashamed and embarrassed and lost and solo.’ Both of ms Langer’s parents are now dead, and she said she felt the time was right to speak out. In august an american woman identified only as robin m said that Polanski assaulted her in 1973 when she was 16. and in 2010 the British actress Charlotte Lewis said she was assaulted by Polanski as a 16-yearold. Lawyers for Polanski refused to discuss the latest accusation.
They have denied all previous claims, except for miss Geimer’s. mr Polanski has become involved in serious legal problems during brief visits to Switzerland and Poland in the past, but judges there have always declined to extradite him to america. Judges in California have refused to drop the outstanding case against Polanski twice, despite the director considering the case closed. In a new interview with the Hollywood reporter, Polanski said: ‘as far as what I did, it’s over. I pleaded guilty.’
Polanski has won eight Cesars – the French ‘oscar’ – and in 2003 won the best director academy award for Holocaust movie The Pianist.