Harvey Weinstein trial: Production assistant sobs as she recounts fighting off mogul during alleged assault

Mimi Haleyi testifies that mogul ‘got offended’ when she mentioned his reputation

A former production assistant delivered vivid testimony on Monday during Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial, telling jurors how she tried to fight off the disgraced movie mogul while he allegedly assaulted her.

Mimi Haleyi took the witness stand as one of the two women whose allegations of sexual assault led to charges and the trial of the former movie mogul.

She testified, at times sobbing, that she told Weinstein “no, no, no” during the alleged attack and told the jury of seven men and five women: “I did reject him, but he insisted.

“Every time I tried to get off the bed he would push me back and hold me down.”

Haleyi testified she thought: “I’m being raped” and considered different options. She said she wondered: “If I scream rape, will someone hear me?” and eventually “checked out”.

“I couldn’t get away from him at all, let alone get away,” Haleyi said. “I checked out and decided to endure it. That was the safest thing I could do.”

She also testified that she told Weinstein she was menstruating in an attempt to deter him.

Weinstein, 67, is charged with forcibly performing oral sex on Haleyi in his New York City apartment in 2006 and raping another woman, an aspiring actress, in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013. He has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. Weinstein has also denied retaliating against women.

Haleyi also testified on Monday that Weinstein allegedly “got offended” when his repeated advances were rebuffed.

​She told the court that before the alleged assault, Weinstein showed up at her apartment and begged her to join him on a trip to Paris for a fashion show. She said he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“At one point, because I just didn’t know how to shut it down so to speak. ... So I said, ‘You know you have a terrible reputation with women, I’ve heard,’” Haleyi said.

The then-revered Hollywood mogul “got offended,” she said. “He stepped back and said, ‘What have you heard?”’

Asked by prosecutor Meghan Hast if she had any romantic or sexual interest in Weinstein, Haleyi firmly answered: “Not at all, no.”

Harvey Weinstein arrives for his trial on 27 January 2020 in New York City. (Getty Images) (Getty)

Haleyi went public with her allegations at an October 2017 news conference, appearing in front of cameras alongside lawyer Gloria Allred, who also represents Sciorra and other Weinstein accusers.

The 42-year-old Haleyi is the first of the two women whose accusations are at the heart of the charges against Weinstein to take the stand at the closely watched trial, which is in its fourth day of testimony.

Last week, Sopranos actor Annabella Sciorra testified that Weinstein allegedly overpowered and raped her after barging into her apartment in the mid-Nineties. While outside the statute of limitations for criminal charges, Sciorra’s allegations could be a factor as prosecutors look to prove Weinstein allegedly engaged in a pattern of predatory behaviour.

​The jury heard testimony last week from Dr Barbara Ziv, a forensic psychiatrist who offered expertise on sexual assault victims, explaining among other things that most of them usually continue to have contact with their attackers.

On Monday, Weinstein attorney Damon Cheronis, used his cross-examination to zero in on Haleyi’s continued relationship with Weinstein after the alleged assault.

He showed jurors an email she sent him after they ran into each other at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. Cheronis pointed to calendar entries and emails that show Haleyi meeting with Weinstein, pitching him on a television show and travelling at his expense to Los Angeles and London. When they couldn’t connect before she left London, she sent him an email lamenting: “totally bummed to have missed you guys.”

Haleyi conceded she’d been in contact with Weinstein “not often, but yes occasionally” and that she sent the 2008 email after a newspaper article reminded her of a conversation they had weeks before the alleged assault.

She also described a second encounter a few weeks after the alleged assault in a Tribeca hotel room where she said she “went numb” as Weinstein allegedly took her hand, pulled her towards the bed and had intercourse with her.

She said she didn’t call the police because she was working in the US on a tourist visa and was scared of Weinstein’s power, telling jurors: “Obviously, Mr Weinstein has a lot more power and resources and connections and so forth. I didn’t think I’d stand a chance.”

Haleyi said she “just felt like an idiot” for letting Weinstein convince her to meet again, but thought seeing him could help her regain power as she tried to make sense of the alleged assault.

She said she didn’t want to have sex with Weinstein that night, but during Cheronis’ cross-examination, she was asked whether Weinstein forced her to have sex during that encounter.

“No,” Haleyi said.

Weinstein was jotting notes in a thick yellow notebook through most of Haleyi’s account, but looked at her and shook his head when she described their alleged encounter. Weinstein has not been charged in connection with that incident.

Additional reporting by agencies