Bill Cosby news latest: Actor branded 'raping monster' as sex assault conviction hailed a turning point for #MeToo movement

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David Gardner27 April 2018

Bill Cosby was branded a “raping monster” by one of his accusers today as his sex assault conviction was hailed a “victory for womanhood” and a turning point for the #MeToo movement.

Actress Louisa Moritz, 71, said she looked forward to seeing the disgraced 80-year-old comedian “in handcuffs on his way to prison” after he was found guilty yesterday of three counts of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his Philadelphia mansion.

Ms Moritz, who starred in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was herself allegedly assaulted by Cosby in a dressing room before appearing on Johnny Carson’s TV show in 1971. She claimed Cosby “has groomed, then raped, then threatened so many women”.

Actress Rose McGowan, who accused producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, tweeted: “Cosby is guilty. I’m sorry if you loved a lie.” Women’s advocates called the verdict a turning point for the #MeToo campaign.

Bill Cosby at Montgomery Courthouse
Getty Images

Cosby, who faces up to 10 years’ jail on each count, was released on $1million (£720,00) bail pending his sentence and plans to appeal.

He was found guilty at the Montgomery County court in Pennsylvania after Andrea Constant, a former employee of the Temple university women’s basketball team, testified that Cosby, a powerful college trustee, drugged and sexually assaulted her when she visited his home to ask for career advice in 2004.

Five other women also testified against Cosby, saying he assaulted them.

More than 60 women in all have made similar allegations against the disgraced star. Lili Bernard, who claimed Cosby drugged and raped her in the early Nineties while she was guest-starring on his Cosby Show, called the verdict “a victory for womanhood”.

Victoria Valentino, a former Playboy Playmate who accused Cosby of raping her in the late Sixties after giving her pills over dinner, said: “We are now part of the tsunami of women’s power and justice.”

A spokesman for Cosby, who played amiable patriarch Cliff Huxtable on his show, from 1984 to 1992, said today: “He knows he’s not guilty.” He is being kept under house arrest until sentencing.

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