Bill Cosby sentencing: Psychologist tells court actor should be labelled 'sexually violent predator' with mental illness

Legal team for the comedian says he is too old and frail to serve time in jail

The judge must decide whether Cosby will receive the official label, which would mean that the man known as “America’s Dad” would be put on the sex offender’s registry and require him to undergo counselling for life.

In April, the 81-year-old actor was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against ex-basketball player Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia mansion in 2004.

Cosby could face up to 10 years in prison for each count but Judge Steven O’Neil has merged the counts, with sentencing guidelines suggesting a total sentence of around one to four years. Prosecutors have asked for a sentence of five to 10 years.

In court, Cosby was described as a “sexually violent predator” with a mental illness by Kristen Dudley, a psychologist and member of the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.

Ms Dudley suggested the label for Cosby after completing her examination of the actor on Monday afternoon. His disorder involved urges towards non-consenting women, according to the psychologist, who said he often befriended women for the “sole purpose of his sexual gratification”.

A psychologist for the defence is set to testify on Tuesday, with the sentencing also likely to take place by the end of the day.

Cosby’s assault on Andrea Constand, which led to his conviction this year, followed a pattern of predatory behaviour, Ms Dudley testified. The assault survivor was present on Monday, arriving at the courthouse shortly after Mr Cosby.

Shortly before the hearing began on Monday, Ms Constand tweeted the Bible verse Ephesians 4:26: “Be wrathful, but do not sin; do not let the sun set while you are still angry. Do not give the Devil an opportunity,” she wrote.

In court, she spoke for two minutes.

“The jury heard me. Mr Cosby heard me. Now, all I am asking for, is justice as the court sees fit,” said Ms Constand, who submitted a much longer victim-impact statement that wasn’t read in court.

Cosby’s defence team have argued that Cosby is too old and frail to serve time in jail.

“What does an 81-year-old man do in prison?” defense attorney Joseph Green asked speaking about Cosby who is legally blind and dependent on others. “How does he fight off the people who are trying to extort him, or walk to the mess hall?”

Mr Green suggested that the actor instead be placed in a detention or rehabilitation facility or be put under something akin to house arrest.

Cosby was the first celebrity to have gone to trial over sexual misconduct allegations in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

On Monday, Cosby’s attorneys argued current state law surrounding sex-offender reporting was unconstitutional, in an attempt to avoid having the actor labelled a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Judge O’Neill ruled it constitutional, but has not yet decided whether Cosby will be given the label.

Ms Constand, who first reported the assault to police in 2005, is the only one of around 60 Cosby accusers who has seen her allegations lead to criminal charges. A retrial produced the three-count conviction after a previous jury became deadlocked on the case, causing a mistrial.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said that the sentence, even at Cosby’s advanced age, should send a message to others.

“Despite bullying tactics, despite PR teams and other folks trying to change the optics, as one lawyer for the defence put it, the bottom line is that nobody’s above the law. Nobody,” he said.