Three women publicly detail sexual allegations against Bill Cosby

A woman who gave her name only as Chelan (left), Beth Ferrier, (second right), Helen Hayes (right) and their attorney Gloria Allred attend a news conference in Los Angeles, California on Dec 3, 2014. The three women came together to speak publicly ab
A woman who gave her name only as Chelan (left), Beth Ferrier, (second right), Helen Hayes (right) and their attorney Gloria Allred attend a news conference in Los Angeles, California on Dec 3, 2014. The three women came together to speak publicly about their allegations that comedian Bill Cosby sexually abused and groped them decades ago. -- PHOTO: REUTERS 

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Three more women came forward on Wednesday claiming Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them, as a lawyer challenged the veteran comic to let himself face legal action over decades-old alleged attacks.

The women, one of whom says she was 17 at the time of her encounter with Cosby, each sobbed while reading statements at a Los Angeles news conference organised by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred.

Allred proposed that Cosby should waive the statute of limitations that protects him from decades-old allegations from more than a dozen women.

Cosby's attorney has called allegations against the comedian discredited and defamatory and was not immediately available for comment.

A woman who gave her name only as Chelan said that, as a 17-year-old , Cosby drugged her, gave her alcohol and began to fondle her before she blacked out.

Beth Ferrier, who had come forward with allegations against the now 77-year-old Cosby last month, told of how she had an extra-marital affair with Cosby in the 1980s.

Then a few weeks after she ended the relationship, he invited her to a show.

She drank a coffee he offered her and began to feel "dizzy," she said.

"The next thing I knew, hours had passed. I woke up in the back of my car, alone, my clothes were a mess, my bra was undone and my car was in the alleyway behind the venue," she said.

Later, having regained her senses, she went to confront him. Cosby said she had had too much to drink, but she denied drinking any alcohol.

"I believe that Mr Cosby drugged me and sexually assaulted me that night," she said.

She said she was one of the several "Jane Does" in a 2005 civil lawsuit that made similar accusations against Cosby and was later settled.

Another woman, Helen Hayes, said she met Cosby while attending a celebrity tennis tournament in California in 1973. At some point he approached her from behind and grabbed her breast, she said.

"His behavior was like that of a predator," she said.

A third alleged victim, identified as Chelan, said she met Cosby when she was 17. She was working at a hotel in Las Vegas, and Cosby called her to his room and said he would introduce her to a modelling agent.

"He laid next to me on the bed and began pinching my left nipple," she said.

Allred said: "We challenge Mr Cosby to end this nightmare," by waiving the statute of limitations for rape charges.

Cosby then "would have an opportunity to address these allegations in a court of law, and the victims and Mr Cosby would have an opportunity to have a judge and a jury decide who should be believed," she said.

Around 20 women have now accused the Emmy and Golden Globe winner of sexual assault and even rape in alleged incidents dating mostly from decades ago.

On Tuesday one alleged victim, 55-year-old Judy Huth, sued Cosby in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming sexual battery and infliction of emotional distress.

She says that at age 15 she and a friend, then 16, met Cosby on a film set and that he invited them to meet at a tennis club the following week.

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