Cosby’s chief accuser says she wants justice for sex assault

Bill Cosby’s chief accuser took the witness stand Friday at his sexual assault retrial, declaring for a second jury that he knocked her out her with three blue pills and then sexually assaulted her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

“I was weak. I was limp, and I just could not fight him off,” said Andrea Constand, once again confronting the 80-year-old comedian in court after his first trial ended with a hung jury.

Her harrowing account of sexual molestation was remarkably similar to the one she gave at last year’s trial, and jurors watched intently and scribbled notes as she described how Cosby — the goodguy celebrity she viewed as a mentor and friend — had betrayed her trust.

Cosby’s lawyer, who has blasted Constand as a “con artist” who leveled false accusations against the star as part of a scheme to get money from him, began what was expected to be a blistering cross-examination by going through a thick binder of Constand’s police statements and prior testimony, pointing out discrepancies between what she said in the past and her testimony Friday.

Under questioning by prosecutors, Constand, who worked as a women’s basketball administrator at Temple University, said Cosby offered her pills and a sip of wine after she said she was “stressed” about telling the Temple coach of her plans to leave to study massage therapy in her native Canada. She said Cosby, a Temple alum and powerful trustee, called the pills “your friends” and told her they would “help take the edge off.”

- Hearst wire services