According to media reports, an Italian judge has called for the sexual abuse case against Paul Haggis to be dropped and has ruled that there is no reason to continue the investigation into the Oscar winner.
The judge in the southern Italian city of Lecce called for the investigation into haggis to be dropped late on Friday, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Saturday. Earlier, an appeals court ruled in Haggis’ favor, dismissing an attempt by prosecutors to restore house arrest for Haggis while the investigation continued.
Haggis was arrested on June 19 in the southern Italian city of Ostuni, where he was attending the first Allora film festival. A 28-year-old Brit accused the 69-year-old filmmaker of forcing her to have sex with him for two days. Haggis spent 16 days under house arrest at his hotel before being released.
In a statement issued to on Saturday, Michele Laforgia, Haggis’ Italian attorney, noted that the three appeals court judges “unanimously dismissed the prosecutor’s appeal to reinstate Haggis’ house arrest.” Laforgia said he presented “irrefutable and objective evidence” that the woman who accused Haggis “told investigators and the court multiple lies, with facts and witnesses completely contradicting her story.”
The alleged victim’s legal team did not immediately comment on the judge’s decision.
Laforgia said if no new evidence is presented to the court, prosecutors will have to drop the case against Haggis, which he expects to do in the coming weeks.
Haggis, who won an Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for “Crash” and screenplay nominations for “Million Dollar Baby” and “Letters from Iwo Jima,” also faces a separate trial in the United States in January 2013. A trial date for that case was set for October 11 in New York. Haggis said his encounter with Breest was consensual.