On Monday, film director Paul Haggis was being held in a hotel room in southern Italy for a court hearing, while authorities pursued a woman’s allegations that he had intercourse with her without her consent over the course of two days.
On Sunday, prosecutors in Brindisi, a port city in Puglia, the region that forms the ‘heel’ of southeastern Italy, announced that the 69-year-old Canadian-born director, screenwriter, and producer had been detained by police for an investigation into alleged aggravated sexual violence and aggravated personal injuries.
The suspected victim was described as a ‘young foreign woman.’ She is a 30-year-old Englishwoman, according to state television and other Italian media, who knew Haggis before he travelled to the tourist town of Ostuni to participate in an arts festival that begins on Tuesday. He is being held in a hotel room in that town, according to them.
Haggis’ Italian lawyer was unavailable for comment since he was in court on Monday morning for other things.
Priya Chaudhry, Haggis’ attorney in the United States, told the Associated Press on Sunday that, while she couldn’t share the evidence because of Italian law, ‘I am convinced that any claims against Mr. Haggis will be dropped.’ He is completely innocent and eager to fully cooperate with authorities so that the truth can be revealed as soon as possible.’
The exact date of the hearing this week, according to Brindisi Prosecutor Antonio Negro, is still to be determined. Under Italian law, a judge will decide whether Haggis can be released awaiting further investigation after hearing arguments from both prosecutors and defence counsel. A court can also determine whether there is a flight risk, the chance of tampering with evidence, or the possibility of committing the same alleged offence, and sentence him to prison or place him under home arrest.
Prosecutors stated in a written statement announcing Haggis’ arrest on Sunday that ‘according to (investigative) components gathered, Haggis allegedly ‘forced the young woman, known to him for some time, to succumb to sexual intercourse.’
The woman was also ‘forced to seek medical care,’ according to the statement. According to the prosecution, ‘the woman was taken’ by Haggis to Brindisi airport and ‘was left there at daybreak despite (her) poor bodily and psychological conditions’ after a few days of non-consensual encounters.
Her ‘clearly disoriented state’ was noted by airport workers and police, who escorted her to Brindisi’s police headquarters, where officers accompanied her to a local hospital for evaluation, according to the prosecution.
Haggis is a screenwriter, producer, and director. In 2006, he won an Academy Award for ‘Crash’ for best original screenplay. Haggis has had legal issues in recent years as a result of sexual assault allegations made by four women in the United States.
Following a civil case filed in late 2017 in New York alleging that he raped a publicist, three more women came forward with their own sexual misconduct allegations, including another publicist who claimed he forced her to perform oral sex and subsequently raped her.
In a counter-complaint to the case, Haggis rejected the original rape claims and claimed that the accuser and her lawyer had demanded a $9 million payment to avoid legal action. Extortion, according to Haggis.
The woman ‘formalised her accusation and cited circumstances that were subsequently looked into for confirmation by detectives,’ according to Brindisi prosecutors.
Haggis has portrayed himself as a defender for the disadvantaged in his films, which have addressed racism, euthanasia, and war. Equality, gender parity, and togetherness were among the themes of the Ostuni festival.
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