Weinstein Trial: Accuser Kaja Sokola Testifies on ‘Horrifying’ Sexual Assaults When She Was 16 and 19 Years Old

Former model Kaja Sokola took the stand on Thursday to testify about being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein when she was 16, calling the alleged incident the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced.”

Sokola is the second of three accusers to testify in the retrial and the only alleged victim that was not part of the original 2020 trial. She said that he assaulted her a second time just before her 20th birthday, forcibly performing oral sex on her at a Manhattan hotel in 2006, according to the Associated Press. The earlier assault, which allegedly took place at Weinstein’s apartment in 2002, is not part of the case as it is considered outside of the statute of limitations.

In describing the first alleged assault, Sokola said that Weinstein told the aspiring actress to take off her clothes as proof that she would be comfortable undressing in films.

Sokola said, despite her objections to him, she did as he told her, including engaging in mutual masturbation, because, “I was 16 years old, and I was alone with a man for the first time, and I didn’t know what else to do.” 

She described his eyes as “black and scary” during the assault and that afterward, if she didn’t tell anyone, he would help her become a Hollywood star.

“I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position,” Sokola testified through tears.

“I never wanted anything else from Harvey Weinstein other than to honestly say if I have a chance to be an actress or no,” Sokola said. She testified that she had “absolutely not” ever had any romantic or sexual interest in him.

The 2006 assault allegedly happened after Weinstein arranged for her to be an extra for a day in the film “The Nanny Diaries.” He invited Sokola to his hotel room on the the pretense of showing her a script.

Instead, she stated, he pushed her onto a bed and stripped off her boots, her stockings and her underwear. “My soul was removed from me,” Sokola said.

She added that she begged him, “please don’t, please stop, I don’t want this,” but was unable to fight him off. Her older sister was in town for the occasion, but Sokola testified that she did not tell her about the assault at the time.

Sokola detailed the 2002 allegation in a lawsuit filed during his first trial but the case was dropped after he was convicted. After the conviction was overturned, she eventually received $3.5 million in compensation.

Another accuser, Miriam Haley, testified last week that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. A third and final accuser, Jessica Mann, has yet to testify about her alleged 2013 assault.

Weinstein’s lawyers will question Sokola on Friday. They have previously maintained that all of their client’s accusers willingly consented to sexual encounters with the powerful producer to further their careers.

Last April, the New York Court of Appeals threw out Weinstein’s conviction after ruling that the mega-producer did not receive a fair trial the first time. He had been sentenced to 23 years in prison. Weinstein has repeatedly denied every allegation of sexual assault and pleaded not guilty.

A judge ruled in April that Weinstein, who is in declining health, can stay in the hospital for the rest of the rape trial, rather than be forced to return to prison.

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