Andrea Constand testified Tuesday about the night in 2004 she says actor Bill Cosby inappropriately touched her after giving her three pills.
Cosby, 79, is on trial for aggravated indecent assault. He’s denied attacking the former Temple University employee in his home outside of Philadelphia, claiming they had a consensual sexual relationship. Constand said the actor served as her mentor and invited her to his home to discuss her career.
Constand, 44, had never spoken publicly about the incident before. She described being unable to resist Cosby that night after complaining to him that the unidentified pills had made her disoriented.
‘I wanted him to stop,” Constand testified, according to Deadline. “In my head, I was trying to get my hands to move and my legs to move but I was frozen.”
“I wasn’t able to fight him away,” she added on the second day of Cosby’s trial.
Sixty women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, including rape. Only Constand’s accusation has led to a criminal trial.
The prosecution and defense questioned why Constand waited a year before reporting the alleged assault to police and met with lawyers before going to law enforcement. They also asked why she continued to speak with Cosby multiple times after the night in question.
She testified that she did it to protect her job at the university where Cosby was an influential trustee. During one of those subsequent conversations, Constand said, Cosby was evasive when she asked him about the type of pills he’d given her.
“Mr. Cosby looked at me and said, ‘I thought you had an orgasm, didn’t you?’ I said, ‘I did not. I just want to know what you gave me,” Constand testified, according to People magazine.
Cosby apologized to Constand’s mother during a later phone call but again declined to say what medication he’d given her, Constand said. He later told authorities it was Benadryl.
Defense attorney Angela Agrusa suggested that Constand invited Cosby’s romantic overtures because she hoped it would help her professional development.
“You were befriending him because he was going to be able to give you some resources to get into broadcasting,” Agrusa said, a charge that Constand denied.
Cosby avoided looking directly at Constand while she was in court, though he appeared to be listening intently, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“We stand with Andrea Constand and are in awe of her courage,” said Lisa Bloom, an attorney for Janice Dickinson, another of Cosby’s accusers.