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The daughter of an Italian model allegedly assaulted by Harvey Weinstein took the stand on Tuesday, describing to jurors how she felt empowered to come forward to police about her own sexual assault after her mother revealed to her what the toppled Hollywood producer allegedly did in 2013 inside a Beverly Hills hotel room.
Maria C., who is Jane Doe 1’s 21-year-old daughter, told Los Angles Superior Court jurors that after she was sexually harassed by a former high school classmate, she was initially reluctant to go to the authorities. But during a 2017 conversation with her mother after dinner, Jane Doe 1 insisted she step up and report the abuse—before eventually saying that she too had experienced a similarly harrowing experience and chose to stay silent.
“I said that I just wanted to leave it in the past. That I just wanted to get it over with. That I just wanted the student to stop stalking me. I told her she didn’t understand,” Maria C. said on the stand. “She said that she understands like never before because she had been raped.”
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