"I wanted to hit him, wanted to punch him in the face," said
Dickinson, a highly successful model in the 1970s and 1980s. "I
felt anger, was humiliated, disgusted, ashamed."
Cosby, who played the loveable patriarch and "America's Dad" on
"The Cosby Show," is on trial in Pennsylvania for a second time
on accusations of drugging and sexually assaulting former friend
and colleague Andrea Constand, 45, in 2004.
In all some 50 women have accused Cosby of molestation going
back decades. All but Constand’s case were too old to be
prosecuted, and Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last
June due to a deadlocked jury.
Cosby is accused of giving pills to college administrator
Constand and assaulting her at his home near Philadelphia.
Cosby has denied the charge of aggravated indecent assault of
Constand, saying any sexual contact was consensual. His lawyers
have portrayed Constand as a gold-digging con artist.
Dickinson is the fourth of five accusers permitted by Montgomery
County Judge Steven O'Neill to tell their stories to the jury in
the suburban Philadelphia courtroom.
Describing a scenario similar to three previous accusers,
Dickinson said Cosby contacted her and offered career help.
He flew her to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where she met Cosby and his
musical director for dinner and complained of menstrual cramps.
"I have something for that," Cosby said, according to her
testimony.
She testified that he gave her a little blue pill, which she
swallowed. Cosby then took her back to his room, where
Dickinson, 27 at the time, shot several pictures of him with her
Polaroid camera that were projected in court.
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"I was really light-headed," she said. "When I spoke, it didn't
sound like words were coming out. We weren't discussing my career.
He was on the phone."
She testified that when he finished his call, he climbed on top of
her.
"I remember his breath, the taste of his kiss, cigars and espresso.
Here was 'America's Dad' on top of me, a happily married man with
five kids, and how very, very wrong it was," Dickinson said.
She found semen between her legs the next day, she said. Confronting
Cosby later that day, she demanded to know why he did it. His
response was silence and a facial expression that conveyed, "You're
crazy," she testified.
Dickinson said she did not report the assault to police out of fear
it would destroy her career. She said she had long struggled to make
it as a model and finally had premiere clients such as cosmetics
titan Revlon Inc "who would not have appreciated it if I had been
raped and gone to the police."
Defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau began his cross-examination by
focusing on a book ostensibly authored by Dickinson but actually
ghost-written by Pablo Fenjves, who also penned O.J. Simpson's book,
"If I Did It."
Dickinson said she wanted the book's sections about her rape to be
complete and honest and gave that information to Fenjves but its use
was overruled by publisher Judith Regan.
(Reporting by David DeKok; writing by Daniel Trotta and Barbara
Goldberg; editing by Cynthia Osterman and G Crosse)
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