Julia Nikhinson/AP
A publicist who has accused Paul Haggis of raping her testified on Thursday that she felt "terrified" and trapped when the Oscar-winning filmmaker with whom she had been friendly attacked her at his Manhattan apartment in 2013.
"He looked like the devil, he looked totally different than I had seen him before," she said.
Haleigh Breest sued Haggis at the height of the Me Too movement in 2017, alleging assault, battery, rape, a criminal sexual act, aggravated sexual abuse, and violating New York City law on gender-motivated violence. She is asking the jury to award her unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
On Thursday, she told the jury of six women and three men in New York Supreme Court that Haggis raped her at his apartment, where she had gone back with him for a drink after they both attended a New York City film event she was working the night of January 31, 2013.
Haggis claims the encounter with Breest was consensual.
Breest said she and Haggis were friendly. But she wasn't attracted to him.
"He was older than my dad," she said.
Breest said she felt "pressured" to go back to his apartment but made her position clear.
"I said 'OK, fine, but just so you know, I'm not sleeping in SoHo tonight.' I wanted to make it very explicitly clear to him that I had no interest in him in that way," Breest said.
Almost as soon as they got into his penthouse loft, Breest said Haggis started trying to kiss her.
"How about that glass of wine?" she said she asked, stepping back.
Breest said Haggis proceeded to pour two glasses of white but then pinned her up against the refrigerator and made another unwanted pass.
"You're scared of me, aren't you?" Breest testified Haggis asked her.
"I said 'No' only because I was so embarrassed, but I was really scared and obviously he could tell," Breest said.
"He was slobbering all over my face," she said. "My mouth was closed and I was turning my head away."
She said she eventually managed to break away and Haggis pivoted to giving her a tour of his apartment. But as soon as he showed her the guest room, she said he pushed her onto the bed and tried to take her tights off.
"I'm saying 'no' and saying 'stop' ... he seemed to like that I was saying no, he seemed to like I was scared," Breest said.
Haggis succeeded in getting her clothes off and then took his off too, Breest testified. He then forced her to give him oral sex. Feeling like she couldn't escape, she asked him to use a condom, and while he initially complied, he took it off after about 30 seconds. Then he started asking if she wanted to have sex.
"I knew if I said I was leaving he would rape me there and then," Breest said. She asked instead if she could go take a shower, thinking she could plan an escape.
But she said Haggis followed her into the shower, and when she got out, physically led her back to the bedroom and raped her.
"I was like a trapped animal, there was nothing for me to do," she said, describing biting down on her finger from the pain of the penetration.
After a couple of minutes, he climbed off of her and she curled up in the fetal position, she said.
Breest said she woke up the next morning alone in the guest bedroom and left the apartment in a state of shock.
"I didn't understand how someone I knew could have a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ability to be someone totally different and assault me," she said.
During opening statements on Wednesday, Haggis' lawyers said that the evidence will show that Breest is lying and that her accusation might be part of a Church of Scientology plot to discredit Haggis. Haggis left the church in 2009 and became one of its most vocal critics.
Haggis is best known for his films "Crash" and "Million Dollar Baby." He is also the writer of two James Bond films.
