Polish model testifies against Harvey Weinstein for first time in rape retrial

MANHATTAN (CN) — The lone new accuser in Harvey Weinstein’s New York City rape retrial took the witness stand on Wednesday, where she testified against the disgraced film mogul for the very first time.

Prosecutors say that Polish model Kaja Sokola was just 16 years old when Weinstein took her into a New York City bathroom in 2002, told her to remove her clothes and groped her.

“This is what happens in the industry: You have to be comfortable removing your clothes,” Weinstein told her, according to the opening argument from prosecutor Shannon Lucey.

But the charge — one count of committing a criminal sexual act — stems from Sokola’s assertion that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in a Manhattan hotel in 2006.

It’s a similar story to that of Miriam “Mimi” Haley, who testified last week that Weinstein “yanked” a tampon out of her and forcibly put his mouth on her vagina in his apartment in 2006. Weinstein is charged with another count of committing a criminal sexual act for that claim.

Prosecutors also charged Weinstein with the third-degree rape of actress Jessica Mann, who is expected to testify later in the trial.

But unlike Mann and Haley, Sokola has never told her story to a Manhattan criminal jury before. Haley and Mann testified at Weinstein’s original trial in 2020, where their testimony helped secure a guilty verdict and 23-year sentence against Weinstein.

Last year, New York’s highest court tossed that conviction and ordered a new trial. Prosecutors filed the new Sokola charge against Weinstein in September, and New York Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber consolidated it with the original charges, paving the way for Sokola to testify at Weinstein’s six-week retrial.

On Wednesday, Sokola told jurors about how her family supported her modeling career from a young age and eventually encouraged her to move to New York City by herself as a teenager. Sokola also recalled suffering from an eating disorder and body dysmorphia.

“I used to have some problems with self esteem,” she said, later adding that she got breast augmentations at 16 years old.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sokola’s older sister Ewa Sokola testified that her little sibling appeared “extremely tense” after a 2006 meeting with Weinstein at a Four Seasons hotel room, but never suspected that Weinstein could have assaulted her.

Kaja Sokola is expected to testify later this week that Weinstein led her away from lunch with her sister that day and sexually assaulted her in the hotel.

But Ewa Sokola told jurors on Wednesday that her sister didn’t appear upset or scared when she saw her later that day — a win for Weinstein’s defense team, who is arguing that Weinstein’s accusers all had consensual sexual relationships with the ex-Hollywood producer.

“I think she was proud of this friendship,” Ewa Sokola said of her sister’s relationship with Weinstein.

Weinstein’s defense attorneys tried to keep Kaja Sokola’s criminal sexual act charge out of the retrial and sought to fight the allegation at a later date. They’ll get a chance to question her in the coming days.

“Today, Kaja Sokola took the stand to share her truth — standing not just as a survivor but as an accomplished psychotherapist and psychologist,” Kaja Sokola’s lawyer Lindsay Goldbrum said in a statement. “Nearly two decades ago, Kaja was a teenager, vulnerable to the power and influence of Harvey Weinstein, a wealthy 54-year-old Hollywood mogul. As you will hear from Kaja, he made sure she understood his control over her future, telling her he had the power to make or break careers. Now, she faces him in open court, reclaiming her voice and her story.”

Kaja Sokola previously accused Weinstein of sexual assault in a civil case in 2019.

Weinstein, now bound to a wheelchair, remains incarcerated despite his 2020 conviction getting tossed. He’s serving a 16-year sentence imposed in Los Angeles County Superior Court for raping an Italian model.

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