Harvey Weinstein accuser Miriam Haleyi has testified the producer allegedly removed a tampon from her before forcing himself on her.
The former ‘Project Runway’ production assistant took to the witness stand during Harvey Weinstein’s ongoing sexual assault trial on Monday (27.01.20), where she alleged the disgraced movie mogul forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006.
Haleyi, 42, told Manhattan Supreme Court jurors that Weinstein invited her to his SoHo apartment on July 10, 2006, where the alleged incident took place.
She said: "He greeted me he invited me in. Asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I believe the television was on and we were just having a normal exchange and sat down on the sofa."
Haleyi alleged Weinstein then made a move on her, which she attempted to reject.
She added: "I got up from the sofa and I said, ‘Oh, no, no, no.’ I just kind of tried to reject him and push him away … and he kissed me and fondling me."
The Finland native claimed she "tried to walk away from him" and tried "to get away," but Weinstein "pulled" her toward him.
She continued: "He was coming toward me physically and I was backed into a bedroom that was on the corner of that open space area. I walked backwards because he was pushing me with his body until I got to the bed and I fell backwards onto the bed and I tried to get up and he pushed me down.
"I just said, ‘No, no. I don’t want this to happen. This is not going to happen, I am on my period."
Haleyi alleges Weinstein pinned her down, and forcibly performed oral sex on her, despite her telling him she was on her period and was using a tampon.
She claimed: "[Every time I] tried to get up off the bed, he would push back down and hold me down. He pushed me down. He held me down. He held my arms to stay like that. I said, ‘no, no.’
"I couldn’t even get away from him at all – let alone out of the apartment. Ultimately, after a while I just checked out. He held me down on the bed and he forced himself on me orally. I was on my period. I had a tampon in there. I was mortified … He forced himself on me orally he put his mouth on my vagina.
"I kept trying to tell him, ‘No, don’t go there and don’t do that. I’m on my period. I have a tampon in.’ It was as if he didn’t believe me and he said something like ‘Where is it then?’ like that and he actually pulled my tampon out."
Haleyi first met Weinstein, 67, at an after-party for a film premiere in London when she was working as an assistant to late British movie and theatre producer Michael White.
She then ran into the producer at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 and asked him if he had work for her in New York, and alleges she was told to meet him at an office suite at the Majestic Hotel in Cannes.
She said: "The assistant let me inside of the room – the suite – and left and so we [she and Weinstein] greeted each other normally. And I can’t remember the exact conversation from there on, but all of a sudden it turned him to him asking if I did massages and if I could give him a massage and I declined."
Weinstein is currently facing five charges relating to sexual assault, including two counts of predatory sexual assault, two counts of rape and one count of criminal sex act.
He has denied all allegations against him.
Harvey Weinstein allegedly ripped out Miriam Haleyi’s tampon before forcing oral sex on her
