Canadian Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis was arrested today in Ostuni (Brindisi) on charges of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury.
According to what was communicated by the Public Prosecutor of Brindisi in a note, the director would have forced a young foreign woman to undergo sexual intercourse for two days in Ostuni where he participates in the "Then Fest" event.
At the airport, the alleged victim of the violence was assisted by the staff of Aeroporti di Puglia and the border police who, after having given her first aid, accompanied her to the offices of the mobile squad.
The agents then took the woman to the Perrino hospital in Brindisi where the "pink protocol" for victims of violence was activated. Subsequently, the alleged victim formalized the complaint.
In the detention order, the probative incident of the injured party was also requested in order to crystallize the statements made.
The measure carried out derives - informs the Public Prosecutor - from a tight and articulated investigation activity, conducted by the mobile team, which collected evidence subjected to scrutiny by the judicial authority.
As far as we know, the director had known for some time the alleged victim who, after one of the episodes of violence, would have been forced to be medicated.
The allegations of sexual assault and aggravated personal injury to Paul Haggis, which led to his arrest in Ostuni, are not the first of their kind to the Canadian filmmaker.
The director of "Crash" is facing a civil lawsuit in the US, born from the accusations made in 2017 by the press secretary Haleigh Breest, who had declared that she was raped by Haggis after a premiere in 2013.
Since 2018, four other women have come forward claiming that they have been victims of sexual harassment and assault by the director.