Canadian director Paul Haggis arrested in Italy on sexual assault charges

OSTUNI (ITALY) • Oscar-winning director and writer Paul Haggis (right, in a 2015 photo) was arrested on charges of aggravated sexual violence and aggravated personal injuries in the southern Italian city of Ostuni on Sunday, according to local police.

According to a statement from the prosecutor's office in the nearby city of Brindisi, which ordered the arrest, the accuser was not Italian.

The statement identified the man who was arrested as P.H., a Canadian. Mr Vincenzo Leo, duty officer of the local Italian police, confirmed it was Haggis.

The statement said that after two days of "non-consensual intercourse", he had brought the woman to Papola Casale airport in Brindisi on Friday and left her there.

The airport's staff and the border police noticed her in the airport in a "confusional state", assisted her and took her to the local police office, the statement continued.

The woman was then taken to a hospital, where she was treated following the protocol used in Italy for victims of violence against women. She subsequently reported the violence to police.

According to the accusations, Haggis, 69, "would have forced the young woman, that he had met some time before, to endure sexual intercourse".

"I am confident that all allegations will be dismissed against Mr Haggis," Ms Priya Chaudhry, a lawyer for Haggis, said in an e-mail. "He is totally innocent and willing to fully cooperate with the authorities so the truth comes out quickly."

Haggis, who won a screenwriting Oscar for crime drama Crash (2004), and who wrote acclaimed movies such as Million Dollar Baby (2004), was in the southern city to attend the Allora film festival.

He was previously sued for sexual assault in New York in 2017 by a publicist, Ms Haleigh Breest. Ms Breest accused Haggis of forcing her to give him oral sex before raping her after a premiere in 2013. Haggis has contended that the encounter was consensual.

Following the lawsuit, which is still pending because of delays related to the pandemic, three other women accused Haggis of sexually assaulting them, according to the Associated Press.

A lawyer for Haggis, Ms Christine Lepera, has denied the three other accusations.

In a court filing last year, Haggis asserted that the pending sexual assault lawsuit in New York had essentially frozen his career, leaving him unable to work as a director or producer.

NYTIMES