The charges stemmed from an assault on a former model and actress,identified in court as Jane Doe 1,at a Los Angeles hotel in February 2013.
The woman had told the judge that she had been a “very happy and confident woman” until Weinstein raped her. Then,“I lost my identity. I was heartbroken,empty and alone,” she said,choking back sobs.
Weinstein,the powerful co-founder of Miramax Films,a US movie production and distribution house,will serve the sentence after completing his 23-year sentence for a sexual misconduct conviction in New York.
Allegations against Weinstein helped fuel the #MeToo movement,which has encouraged women to speak out about sexual harassment and abuse by powerful men in media,politics and other endeavours. The movement,which went viral on social media in 2017,seeks to break a culture of silence that has long allowed such conduct to go unchallenged.
Weinstein,who producedPulp Fiction,Shakespeare in Love and other successful independent films,had said all of his sexual encounters had been consensual,and he pleaded not guilty in the Los Angeles case.
‘Closure and relief’