The woman Roman Polanski had sex with at a Hollywood party when she was just 13 has accused US court authorities of ruining her life, insisting they used the case for their own "political gain".
The Rosemary's Baby director bedded Samantha Geimer at Jack Nicholson's house in 1977 and was
later put on trial. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor before fleeing to Europe on the eve of his sentencing and spent 30 years living in exile.
His sex crime caught up with him in 2009, when Swiss officials re-arrested him in Zurich.
US prosecutors were engaged in months of legal wrangling with Swiss authorities to extradite Polanski to face justice - but they refused and the filmmaker was set free in July 2010.
Geimer gave her public support to Polanski throughout the extradition drama, urging the US district attorney to drop the case, and now she's speaking out again to blast the way they handled the crime.
Geimer, now in her mid-40s, appeared on US breakfast show Good Morning America on Thursday and blamed the court officials for causing more damage to her in the aftermath of the crime than the sex act itself.
She said, "What I want people to know is that they don't understand what happened. They don't understand how poorly the courts handled it, what went on in the original case, and just how the whole situation has been used for the benefit of judges or district attorneys for their own personal, political gain, which has caused way more pain to my family than anything Roman Polanski has ever done. You shouldn't be damaged more by the court than by the crime ... "
She claims she wasn't even alerted to the prosecution's plans to extradite Polanski - and was left "terrified" when the media began hounding her for a comment.
She explained, "I was terrified and shocked because I had no warning ... They showed no regard for me, practically contempt for me. Not even a heads up."
Geimer insists she forgave Polanski years ago and appreciated a note of apology he sent her after the release of controversial documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.
She added, "It was (rape) because I was 13, but he didn't mean to hurt me; he thought it was all right and I was just scared. It was bad but it wasn't as bad as grand jury testimony, it wasn't as bad as having my sons traumatised by paparazzi. It's not as bad as the DA's office making statements like, 'We're looking forward to seeing Mr Polanski in court'."
- AAP
The woman Roman Polanski had sex with at a Hollywood party when she was just 13 has accused US court authorities of ruining her life, insisting they used the case for their own "political gain".
The Rosemary's Baby director bedded Samantha Geimer at Jack Nicholson's house in 1977 and was
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