Sex Abuse Case: Bill Cosby 'Paid' Survivor $3.38 Mn To Keep Mum

During the hearing of a sexual assault case against actor Bill Cosby on Monday (April 9), the prosecutor made a stunning revelation. He claimed that 80-year-old Cosby bribed his primary accuser with $3.38 million to buy her silence. Cosby had allegedly drugged and sexually abused her.

Speaking about the Cosby versus Andrea Constand case, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said it resembles a classic case of ‘he said, she said’. He spoke at length blunting anticipated defence attacks on Constand, the prosecution's chief witness in his opening remarks.

He also pointed that investigators approached Constand more than a decade after the attack had taken place when it came into public view in 2015. Constand did not approach his office to report the allegations against Cosby, Steele said.

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"The evidence in this case will show that Andrea Constand didn’t come to us. What happened was, after they released it, we go to her. And we ask if she’s willing to help the commonwealth," Steele told the jury, ABC News reported.

Constand is the former director of operations for the women's basketball team at Cosby's alma mater, Temple University.

Steele also warned the jury about Constand’s obscure account of the event as she has claimed Cosby had drugged her before the assault happened.

"You're going to hear her describe to the best of her ability what happened," Steele said. "When I say to the best of her ability, make sure you consider those pills and that glass of wine because then he helped her to a sofa. She’s unconscious, she’s jolted. And she’s herself being violated."

He went on to caution the jurors against Cosby’s lawyer Tom Mesereau’s authority to discredit and question Constand’s character and testimony. "This is the Commowealth vs. William H. Cosby."

"That's what you just swore that you were going to sit and judge and listen to the facts in the case," he said. "This case is not Andrea Constand vs. the defendant."

"We are confident that you will be able to make the right decision in this case, we are confident that you will be able to do the right thing in this case, and we are confident that you will convict the defendant on three counts of aggravated sexual assault"

Steele also requested the jurors to hear her testimony where she does not agree to saying ‘yes’ to whatever was happening to her.

"That, as we all know, is a woman's right," Steele said.

"We are confident that you will be able to make the right decision in this case, we are confident that you will be able to do the right thing in this case, and we are confident that you will convict the defendant on three counts of aggravated sexual assault," Steele said.

Constand has testified the incident from 2004 when Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious at his home. She thought of him as "somebody I trusted. A mentor".

Cosby denied allegations

Cosby has denied all the accusations levelled against him saying that the drugs and sexual act were consensual.

Before the trial on Monday, Cosby met with a topless protestor outside the court shouting jeers against him. She had writing on her body reading "Cosby," "rapist" and "Women's Lives Matter" in red ink. Identified as Nicolle Rochelle, she also had names of women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault written on her torso in black ink.

Rochelle had appeared in four episodes of "The Cosby Show" between 1990 and 1992, playing a character named Danielle as a young girl.

The police charged Rochelle with disorderly conduct.

Picture credit- The New York Times

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