Roman Polanski accused of molesting 10-year-old girl in 1975; director denies allegations

Academy Award winning director Roman Polanski is part of yet another sexual-assault controversy. The 84-year-old filmmaker has been accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl in California way back in 1975. This is the fifth incident reported against the director of The Pianist. According to a report by The Guardian, Marianne Barnard claims that Polanski had sexually assaulted her in a beach in California during a photoshoot, where she was also asked to pose naked by him. “At first I had the understanding I was just going to the beach with my mom. We were there for a little while by ourselves and then he was there. And she explained that this man wanted to take pictures of me in this fur coat. I thought it was to go into a magazine or something.” [caption id=“attachment_3952933” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  FILE - Polanski at the photo call for the film, Based On A True Story, at the 70th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, on 27 May, 2017 (left), and Polanski at a Santa Monica, Calif., courthouse on 8 August, 1977. File picture courtesy: AP[/caption] “At some point I realised my mom had gone. I don’t know where she went and I didn’t really register her leaving, but she was no longer there. Then he molested me,” said Barnard. Barnard attributes her courage to come out to the recent outrage against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein over a bevy of sexual assault allegations reported by more than 50 women, including A-list actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie etc. “I felt terribly conflicted that I have been silent all this time and all these women are bravely coming forward and I thought to myself I can’t in good conscience knowing what I know – and having gone through what I’ve gone through – not speak out,” says Barnard. However Polanski completely refutes these claims, and E! Online quotes him saying, “I entirely reject the unfounded allegations of Mme. Barnard, of whom I have no knowledge.” Polanski’s name as a sexual crime offender first came out in public in the year 1977 when he pleaded guilty to statutory rape of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer. Later, in 2010, Charlotte Lewis, the British actress, revealed that the disgraced filmmaker had molested her in 1983. In 2017, there were reports of a third and  fourth woman coming out to report abuse at the hands of Polanski, during their youth.