Featured Image Credit: Rich Gold/REUTERS/Alamy
Topics: Crime, Entertainment, Film and TV, True crime, US News, no-article-matching
Dominic Smithers
Topics: Crime, Entertainment, Film and TV, True crime, US News, no-article-matching
**Warning: graphic content**
Harvey Weinstein's genitals have become a key piece of evidence during his rape trial.
The disgraced movie producer has been accused of sexual assault by a number of women.
Over the course of the trial, the appearance of his genitalia has been mentioned on numerous occasions, with the jury even being shown photos.
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Speaking previously, prosecutors revealed that Weinstein had undergone surgery after contracting Fournier gangrene.
As a result, part of his scrotum was removed. It later became infected and his testicles were removed.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson said at the start of the trial: "That surgery caused pretty noticeable scarring … Because of an infection, his testicles were actually taken from his scrotum and put into his inner thighs."
But now, with the jury deliberating over two counts of rape and five of sexual assault, his genitals have been discussed further.
Three of these charges relate to Jane Doe #1, a European model who claims that the movie mogul raped her at Mr. C Beverly Hills Hotel back in 2013.
Part of her claims hinge on the fact that she has been able to describe Weinstein's genitals in detail, which the prosecution says is only possible due to the fact she was assaulted.
She told the court that Weinstein told her to 'suck his balls', recalling: "He forced me to do what he asked… I was crying, choking.”
However, Weinstein's defence said there were inconsistencies in her testimony and that she had 'changed her story' due to the fact that their client 'does not have testicles in his scrotum'.
Hitting back at the defence, Jane Doe #1 said she has always maintained that Weinstein had abnormal testicles but that it is hard to describe correctly.
She said: “I recall that he didn’t have one. It was like empty skin.”
Speaking to the jury directly on Friday (2 December), she said: "You saw those photographs … I’m sure if we asked you, it would be hard to describe … It’s hard to describe if you’re not a medical professional.”
Backing her testimony, Thompson also said: “Jane Doe #1 is able to describe Mr. Weinstein’s anatomy. She can do that because he assaulted her. There’s no other explanation for that.”
Other women have also mentioned Weinstein's genitals during the trial, with Jane Doe #2 - who alleges that he masturbated in front of her and groped her almost a decade ago - branding them 'disgusting'.
She said: "It looked like it had been chopped off and sewn back on, like something wasn’t right about it."
While Jane Doe #4, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, said it looked 'kind of fish-like'.
In their closing argument, Weinstein's defence told the court that there was no physical evidence that their client had done anything wrong.
They said the witnesses were 'lying' and that anything that happened between them was '100 percent consensual'.
Weinstein is already serving a 23-year sentence for a previous conviction in New York, and now faces more than 60 years in prison in California if he is found guilty on all charges.