Cosby’s release ‘a disgrace’

NEW YORK: The woman whose testimony led to the jailing of Bill Cosby has criticised the US justice system for freeing “a sexually violent predator”, as she publicised a memoir and vowed that the actor’s release would not “defeat me”.

Andrea Constand, 48, whose allegations of sexual assault led to Cosby’s conviction in 2018, said she was shocked to see Phylicia Rashad, his costar, celebrating his release.

Ms Constand, a Canadian former basketball coach who became a massage therapist, has said little in public beyond her court evidence that she was drugged and attacked by Cosby (pictured) at his Philadelphia mansion in 2004.

Cosby, 84, was released in June on a legal technicality by an appeals court.

More than 60 women have come forward to say they were sexually assaulted by Cosby, but he was tried and convicted only for attacking Ms Constand because the statute of limitations had expired in the other historical cases.

“He’s a sexually violent predator,” Ms Constand said as she launched her book, The Moment. She said she found it “disgusting” to see him celebrate his release and described US justice as “flawed”.