LAPD Opens New Roman Polanski Probe About Alleged 1975 Assault Of 10-Year-Old
Roman Polanksi is the target of another Los Angeles Police Department investigation, with detectives confirming Tuesday they are looking into a woman’s claim that Polanski sexually assaulted her during a 1975 photo shoot on an L.A. beach when she was 10.
The Associated Press reported that Marianne Barnard first told police in October that the Oscar-winning director molested her during a shoot in which he had her pose nude in a fur court. Police said they can’t prosecute a case on the matter because the statute of limitations has expired, but they may able to use any evidence found to help them in other cases.
#RomanPolanski took photos of me naked & in fur coat on beach in Malibu, I was 10 yrs old. He went on from there. This ends now #ROSEARMY https://t.co/CXoABPSn6H
— Marianne Barnard (M) (@Marianne_M_B) October 13, 2017
Polanski’s attorney Harland Braun told the AP that he has hired an investigator to look into Barnard’s claims. “I believe that a competent LAPD investigation will prove the whole story to be bogus,” he said in an email to the outlet.
Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978 after he was convicted of raping a 13-year-old, Samantha Geimer. His lawyers are currently arguing that he was victimized by court misconduct and should be free to return. Another accuser, known as “Robin M,” said in August that Polanski “sexually victimized” her when she was 16 years old in 1973. She said she would testify as to her own victimization if the Geimer case would ever be retried.
In October, about 40 women protested the opening of a Polanski retrospective in front of the Cinémathèque Française in Paris. He has lived in France, Switzerland and Poland since fleeing to Europe to avoid extradition.
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