Andrea Constand will take the stand again Monday, her second day of testimony in the retrial of disgraced comedian and actor Bill Cosby, who is facing charges of indecent assault.
CNN reports that Constand will return for the second week of the trial in Norristown, Pa., after taking the stand Friday. As Diana Moskovitz reported for Jezebel, Friday marked the second time that Constand told a jury about the night she says Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her. Covering the testimony, Moskovitz wrote that Constand recounted her relationship with Cosby, with whom she had a professional affiliation (she was director of basketball operations for Temple University, and Cosby was a prominent donor for the sports team).
During her testimony, Constand detailed what she said were Cosby’s escalating advances, saying that she didn’t feel threatened by Cosby at the time and felt assured that she could fend him off. She also detailed, again, the events of the night when she says Cosby gave her three blue pills to help her relax.
Constand said she fell unconscious shortly afterward, and woke up to Cosby assaulting her.
As Jezebel reports, Constand said:
I was kind of jolted awake, and felt Mr. Cosby on the couch beside me, behind me. And my vagina was being penetrated quite forcefully ... I felt my breast being touched, and he took my hand and placed my hand on his penis and masturbated himself with my hand. And I was not able to do anything about that.
Prosecutor Kristen Feden asked Constand about her motivations for bringing charges against Cosby, noting that Constand had received a $3.38 million financial settlement from Cosby following a civil suit. When asked by Feden why she had returned to court, Constand said, “For justice.”
Cosby has said the sex was consensual, and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Other witnesses for the prosecution, including former models Janice Dickinson and Lise-Lotte Lublin, also took the stand last week to testify that Cosby had performed similar acts on them. Along with three other women, they testified that Cosby had given them drugs or alcohol and then assaulted them.
Constand is Cosby’s chief accuser in the case. The first trial against Cosby ended in a mistrial after a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous decision. The defense is expected to finish its cross-examination of Constand on Monday.