Photo: Reuters
Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey (pic) was described as a “sexual bully”, as prosecutors opened their case against him in London for a string of alleged assaults.
“Kevin Spacey Fowler is an actor; many of you will already know that,” lawyer Christine Agnew told a jury at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, using the star’s full name.
“He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards. He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men.”
Agnew said Spacey did not respect personal boundaries or space. He was “a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully”, the lawyer alleged in her opening speech.
“His preferred method of assault is, it appears, to grab aggressively other men in the crotch. On one occasion things went further than that.”
Spacey, 63, denies three counts of indecent assault, seven counts of sexual assault, and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
He has also pleaded not guilty to a further charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The alleged offences, against four men who cannot be identified under English law, are said to have occurred between 2001 and 2013.
Agnew said Spacey had dismissed some of the allegations as “quite simply made up”, and maintained that others were consensual.
She alleged that Spacey, star of the political television drama House of Cards, had “abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him”.
Spacey’s lawyer Patrick Gibbs said his client – a US citizen – had come back to the UK to answer the allegations against him and recount “what actually happened”.
He said some of what the jury will hear has been “deliberately exaggerated”. “You will soon hear, I suggest, some truths. You will soon hear some half-truths. You will also hear, I suggest ... some deliberate exaggerations and you will hear many lies.” – AFP
