Roman Polanski to face civil trial next year in Los Angeles for allegedly raping teen in 1973

Gloria Allred is representing the plaintiff, a Jane Doe accusing the fugitive filmmaker of giving her alcohol and sexually assaulting her at his home.

A woman is suing the fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski, alleging that he raped her in his Los Angeles home in 1973, when she was underage, and a judge has set a trial date for next year.

Gloria Allred, the prominent women's rights attorney, held a press conference Tuesday with the plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, and said the trial is slated to start Aug. 4, 2025.

Doe's complaint, which was initially filed in June and later amended to name Polanski, 90, as the defendant, alleges that the incident occurred after she had met Polanski at a party a few months prior, and subsequently accepted his invitation to dinner. She claims that Polanski knew she was a minor and plied her with alcohol at his Benedict Canyon home and a restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard before she became ill. She allegedly passed out and woke up to find herself in Polanski's bed, not knowing how she got there.

"He told her that he wanted to have sex with her," the complaint states. "Plaintiff, though groggy, alleges that she told defendant 'No.' She told him, 'Please don’t do this.' He ignored her pleas. Plaintiff alleges that defendant Polanski removed plaintiff's clothes and he proceeded to sexually assault her causing her tremendous physical and emotional pain and suffering."

Doe, who first went public with her allegations against Polanski in 2017, said in a statement Tuesday, "I have waited a long time to file this case against Mr. Polanski, but I finally decided to file it in order to obtain justice and accountability."

An attorney for Polanski, Alexander Rufus-Isaacs, said in a statement to EW that his client "strenuously denies the allegations made against him in the lawsuit and believes that the proper place to try this case is in the courts, and not in press conferences."

This is not the first time Polanski has faced allegations of sexual abuse. The Rosemary's Baby and The Pianist director, who lives in France, has remained a fugitive from the United States since 1978, when he fled the country to avoid sentencing after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Between 2017 and 2019, four women accused Polanski of sexually abusing them in the 1970s, three of them as minors. Polanski has denied the allegations.

Polanski is currently on trial in France over allegations that he defamed a British actress who accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Related content:

• Academy expels Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski

• Watch the trailer for Netflix's Gloria Allred documentary, Seeing Allred

• Kate Winslet regrets working with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski: 'What the f--- was I doing?'
  

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.