Cosby’s accuser stands by her story under cross-examination
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A woman who accuses Bill Cosby of drugging and violating her more than a decade ago stood by her story at his sex-crimes trial Wednesday, withstanding hours of often ponderous cross-examination that didn’t produce the stumbles the TV star might havehoped for.
Also, jurors in Mr. Cosby’s sexual assault trial finally got to hear the comedian’s voice, a day after the Cosby accuser confronted her alleged attacker in court for the first time.
Calm and composed, Andrea Constand brushed off suggestions she and Mr. Cosby had a romantic relationship before the 2004 encounter at his suburban Philadelphiahome.
And she explained away the numerous phone calls she made to him afterward by saying she was merely returning Mr. Cosby’s messages about the women’s basketball squad at Temple University, where he was a powerful member of the board of trustees and she was directorof team operations.
Ms. Constand, 44, left the witness stand after some seven hours of testimony over two days, during which she told the jury that the comedian gave her three blue pills and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay paralyzed on a couch, unable to tell him to stop.
Ms. Constand’s mother, Gianna, followed her on the stand and bolstered her account. She told the jury that she was distraught to learn what Mr. Cosby had done to her daughter.
“She viewed him like a father,” she testified, breaking down on the stand.
Gianna Constand said she confronted Mr. Cosby by phone during a two-hour call in which she said he “surrendered” to her about the sexual encounter and told her he “wassick.”
After that conversation, she said, she bought a recording device in hopes that Mr. Cosby would again confess to harming her daughter. But she said he kept their next conversationshort.
Prosecutors played a recording of the call, in which Mr. Cosby offered to pay for Ms.Constand’s education.
“She could go to school,” he said. “If she wanted to do that, then I would be willing to ... pay for the schooling.”
Mr. Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault. The 79-year-old comedian once dubbed America’s Dad could spend his life in prison if convicted.
Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have argued that the sexual encounter with Ms. Constand was consensual and have cited phone records showing she called the TV star 53 times afterward, including one call that lasted 20 minutes.
But Ms. Constand said she was returning calls Mr. Cosby made to her university-issued cell phone about the basketball team.
Ms. Constand’s longawaited showdown with Mr. Cosby’s lawyers became bogged down in a painstaking examination of her phone records and police statements, and the defense couldn’t budge her off her account of molestation and broken trust.
Mr. Cosby kept still, looking down at the defense table through most of the morning.