Victim Gives Bill Cosby A ‘Present’ After He Allegedly Raped Her

Andrea Constand told a detective in 2005 that she gave Bill Cosby a sweater as a present during months after she claimed the comedian sexually assaulted her.

Katharine Hart, a former detective for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, testified at a preliminary hearing in the criminal case against Cosby in court on Tuesday. A judge ruled that the sexual assault case against Cosby will move forward. If convicted, the 78-year-old comedian could face as much as 10 years in prison.

Constand claims that Cosby sexually assaulted her inside his Philadelphia home in January 2004. A year later, she was interviewed by Hart where she laid out what she said happened between her and Cosby. (Hart read mostly from a transcript in court that Constand reviewed and edited following the interview.)

After testifying for the prosecution, Hart was cross-examined by Cosby’s attorney, Brian McMonagle. His strategy is simple: discredit Constand by questioning her behavior after the alleged rape.

“Is it the case that [Constand] told you she brought her family to his show, and brought him a present, a sweater?” McMonagle asked Hart as he directed her to that portion of Constand’s transcript.

“Yes,” Hart replied.

McMonagle then moved to undercut Constand by contrasting her account of what happened immediately prior to the alleged assault that she first gave to police in Canada before she spoke to American authorities.

Constand, who was living in Toronto when she first reported Cosby to police in January 2005, told them that Cosby had “taken her out to dinner and out in [Philadelphia’s] Chinatown,” according to a police report read in court. Constand later told Hart, according to the transcript, that she had driven herself to Cosby’s home.

The prosecution objected to McMonagle’s questions as being irrelevant to whether or not Constand was assaulted.

No matter how they got to his home, Constand recalled telling Cosby she did not feel well soon after they arrived. Constand said that’s when Cosby briefly left the room they were in and returned with blue pills, which he said were “herbal” and would “make you feel good, make you relax.”

“I said to him that I trust him,” Constand said, according to Hart, and she swallowed the pills. Cosby insisted she try the wine he’d poured for her, Constand said, though she’d declined because she said had not eaten.

“OK, you can drink it or you can nurse it,” Cosby told her, according to the interview transcript.

Constand told detectives that she began to feel dizzy and afraid soon after ingesting the pills.

“I said to him ‘I can’t even see, Mr. Cosby,” Hart recounted Constand as saying.

“I’m going to lay you down on the couch and let you relax,” Cosby said, according to the interview.

Constand told Hart she lay on the couch, unable to move or open her eyes.

“I wasn’t aware of any sounds. I don’t know where Mr. Cosby went,” Hart said Constand recalled.

Then Constand said she was very much aware of Cosby when he put his hands on her breasts and his fingers inside her vagina. Constand told Hart that Cosby lay behind her on the couch and reached into her pants from behind. Constand said Cosby took her right hand and placed on his penis, which was erect. 

Constand says she fell asleep and found her shirt pulled up and her bra backwards when she woke up at 4 a.m.

“The snap was in the front not the back — I couldn’t have done that myself if I wanted to,” Constand said, according to Hart. Cosby then gave Constand her a mixed-berry muffin and tea before she left, she recalled.

McMonagle said he objected to Hart’s testimony in its entirety, arguing it was hearsay and that the accuser herself, Constand, should be required to appear before the court and “answer questions like: ‘Why did you wait so long to report?’”

Judge Elizabeth A. McHugh agreed with the prosecution that she could not consider questions of credibility during the preliminary hearing and dismissed McMonagle’s attempt to compel Constand to take the stand on Tuesday morning.

Constand met Cosby at Temple University, where she was the director of the women’s basketball team and he was a prominent booster for the university. 

Following Constand’s report to authorities in 2005, Montgomery County D.A. Bruce Castor said he found insufficient evidence to corroborate her story and indict Cosby. Ten years later, however, D.A. Kevin Steele reopened the case and indicted Cosby thanks in part to his deposition in a civil trial brought by Constand. 

In the deposition, Cosby admitted giving other women quaaludes before sex. (Cosby said this sex was consensual; several dozen women have said it was not.) A judge unsealed the transcript said last year because Cosby had “voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy” he was entitled by by donning “the mantle of public moralist,” the judge wrote. Constand and Cosby settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money. 

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The Threat of Office Relationships To Marriages

 

Relationships, especially marriages, require time and true commitment for it to thrive and for those involved to become fulfilled and get the best of it. This is akin to the commitment we show to our jobs or career.

And one of the ways to stay committed to your relationship is to fend off little, or perhaps seemingly insignificant but dangerous intrusions especially at the workplace.

The workplace is a potential setting for flirtatious advances from the opposite sex since colleagues tend to see themselves more often, perhaps than one’s partner, and amorous feelings could develop secretly in the heart of an admirer.

This is why a lot of organizations indeed prohibit office romance solely because it has the potential of putting their staff off balance. Perhaps this is why many such relationships are kept secret too.

But as a person who is committed to keeping your marriage safe, you must essentially guide against anything that would unnecessarily expose you to temptation or cause trouble for you and your partner. 

You may be striving to build a wonderful career; but you may not know the true intent of the next fellow in your team. Some may not be truly interested in their job, and are merely marking time. 

For some, the sole ambition is to get enough eating and drinking money to get along. For such people, the stakes are fairly low and would do anything to make their stay at that office worth the while. Don’t let anybody use you as an extra bonus! Don’t be the reason why that fellow’s job, whether full time or part time, becomes more interesting. 

It does not make sense if you are a great manager at work yet you can’t manage your relationship. Or don’t you think it is a waste of talent if you head a human resource department in a big organization yet you can’t keep your relationship at home on track?

Simple precautions would help keep you away from compromising situations that may potentially damage your relationship.

Remember that it is not just having a wonderful job that brings fulfillment. If your relationship is in turmoil, you would not have the heart or peace to enjoy the success or proceeds of your labour.

Having a great career and a wonderful relationship is perhaps one of the greatest dreams of many young people. But whilst working or having a career is essential in building ourselves and in providing the basic necessities of life for our families and loved ones, your work could be a potential threat to your relationship if the dynamics are not properly managed.

Teenager Charged With Defiling 2 Minors

16-year-old teenager, who allegedly defiled two minors, was on Monday December 7, docked before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos Nigeria. The accused, a student, who lives at Oke-Ira, Ogba, a suburb of Lagos, is facing a four-count charge bordering on defilement and assault.

The prosecutor, Sgt Jimah Iseghede, told the court that the offences were committed on Nov. 12 at the accused residence.

“The accused lives with his parents in the same house with the victims and so it was easy for him to defile the girls, aged: two and six.

“It was the cry of the two-year-old girl that attracted her mother and the accused was apprehended,” the prosecutor said. The offences, according to the prosecutor, contravene Sections 137 and 259 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. Sections 137 and 259 stipulate imprisonment for life for the offender if found guilty.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The Chief Magistrate, Mr Tajudeen Elias, granted the accused to a bail of one million naira with two sureties in like sum. As part of the bail condition, the magistrate ordered the accused to deposit N250,000 into the court registrar’s account and adjourned the case to Jan. 6 for mention.

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Gate-Keeper Docked For Defiling Minor

A 29-year-old gate-keeper, Taoridi Usman, who allegedly defiled his employer’s 11-year-old daughter was on Monday, December 7, docked at an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, Nigeria. The accused, who lives in his employer’s residence at 27, Amosu Close, Ojokoro, a suburb of Lagos, is facing a charge of defilement.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Jimah Iseghede, told the court that the offence was committed on Nov. 29 at the accused residence. According to the prosecutor, the accused, being a gate man in the victim’s house, lured the under-age girl into his room at the gatehouse and defiled her.

The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, the prosecutor said.

The accused pleaded not guilty. The Chief Magistrate, Mr Tajudeen Elias, granted the accused bail in the sum of N250,000 with two sureties in like sum. Elias then adjourned the case to Jan.6, 2016 for mention.

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