NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CN) – The only one of Bill Cosby’s dozens of accusers whose claims are not too old to prosecute made an unusual appearance on the witness stand Tuesday, smiling at Cosby while recalling the romantic attention she described as unwelcome.
"I remember specifically that Mr. Cosby sat very close to me and he put his hand on my thigh,” said Constand, wearing a pale blue suit, her brown hair in wild curls.
“It was the first time he touched me, so I remember that,” Constand continued.
Though she described the touch as “affectionate … maybe suggestive,” Constand said it did not trigger any alarms for her initially.
Constand had known Cosby through her job as director of basketball operations at Temple University, a Philadelphia area school where Cosby was a trustee.
At a basketball game in the late fall of 2002, Constand said one of the school’s donors introduced her to the comedian, and that she showed him the new carpet and fixtures in the women's locker room.
Cosby was soon calling Constand’s office, she said, asking for updates on the renovations. “I was the point person, and he wanted to ask me questions,” Constand testified.
She said a friendship developed as she talked about growing up in Canada and her interest in basketball. When Cosby asked for her cellphone number, Constand said they began speaking more frequently, and he invited her to several dinner parties at his home. Constand saw it as a treat. "I ate dinner most of the time alone,” she said.
Usually at the parties, all the guests including Constand left at the same time. One evening, however, over a meal prepared by Cosby’s chef, she said the comedian’s advances became more direct.
He was "touching the side of my waist and attempted to unbutton my button at the top of my zipper,” Constand testified. “When I felt that, I leaned forward, and he took his hand away.”
Constand said she left, telling the married comedian: “I’m not here for that. I don't want that.”
Though the trial has not touched on Constand’s sexual orientation, her attorneys noted in 2015 filings that Constand was dating a woman at the time Cosby assaulted her.
As Cosby himself testified when being deposed for the 2005 civil case with Constand, he did not learn she was gay until that year when police informed him.
Constand testified Tuesday about why she continued to have contact with Cosby. "I trusted him,” she said, “and I wasn't scared of him in any way."