LOS ANGELES – A woman who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault said on April 26 she was not sure she could face testifying again if the former American film producer is retried, after his New York rape conviction was thrown out last week.

Former production assistant Mimi Haley said she felt “sick to my stomach” when she heard a court had voided the conviction of the one-time Hollywood power player.

“People really don’t know what I had to go through and what the other women had to go through,” Haley, who was previously known as Haleyi, told reporters of Weinstein’s 2020 trial.

“It’s gruelling, it’s hard... you’re living in fear for years... and then you’re getting harassed.

“There’s so much stuff that people don’t see that I had to live with.”

Bombshell allegations broke against Weinstein in 2017, launching the #MeToo movement that paved the way for women to fight back against sexual violence in the workplace.

The 72-year-old Oscar-winning producer was convicted in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of former actress Jessica Mann in 2013, and of forcibly performing oral sex on Haley in 2006. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

On April 25, New York’s highest court ruled the trial judge erred in admitting the testimony of women who were allegedly abused by Weinstein but who were not named in the charges brought against him.

The office of Manhattan’s district attorney has indicated it will seek a retrial, reports said, which would almost certainly require Haley to give evidence again.

If Weinstein is retried, Haley said he should still be convicted, even without evidence from so many other women.

“The truth doesn’t change,” she said. “The evidence is still there, so I don’t see why it would be another result.”

Haley, who is in her 40s, said she was still processing the development, but that she would consider taking the witness stand again.

“I definitely don’t want to actually go through that again, but for the sake of keeping going and doing the right thing – because it is what happened – I would consider it,” she said.

The ruling on April 25 does not affect a separate 16-year sentence for rape handed down in California and Weinstein remains behind bars. AFP