Lesbian sports star Andrea Costand who could finally bring down ‘America’s dad’ Bill Cosby: Star is arrested on assaults

Emotional testimony in court may make Cosby finally face justice after years of reported abuse.

Facing justice . . . Bill Cosby was arrested over an alleged assault in 2004 after more than 50 women say they fell victim to TV star

ONCE so beloved he was known as “America’s dad”, Bill Cosby has gone from megastar to pariah in just one year. Dozens of women have accused him of sexual assault, but this week he was finally arrested over an alleged incident in 2004.

Sporting chance . . . Andrea Costand struck up what she believed to be a 'sincere friendship' with Bill Cosby

Leaning on a cane, the 78-year-old comedian battled through news crews and angry onlookers as he made his way to a courthouse in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Top of the bill . . . US comedian Bill Cosby with The Cosby Show's co-stars

His alleged victim is Andrea Constand, 42, who claims the attack took place after Cosby became her mentor. A lesbian who was in a committed relationship at the time, she says she repeatedly refused multiple sexual advances and that the incident was not consensual, as Cosby claims.

Accuser . . . Andrea Costand only found the courage to tell her mother a year after the alleged attack

Her testimony may be the silver bullet that sees Cosby finally face justice after 50 years of reported abuse.
More than 50 women say that they, like Andrea, fell victim to him. Their testimony paints a picture of a predator who abused his fame and influence to drug and sexually assault young women as he pleased.

In July, 35 of his alleged victims spoke to and posed for the cover of New York magazine. Many of the incidents which they claim took place date back decades, and America’s statute of limitations which prevents charges for crimes being made after a certain period  means it is too late to prosecute him in nearly every case.

But in the Constand case, the authorities still had a week left to file an arrest warrant  and did so. If convicted, Cosby faces up to ten years’ jail and a $25,000 (£17,000) fine. When Andrea first met Cosby in 2004, she was running the women’s basketball team at Temple University in Philadelphia, where Cosby had previously studied and now served on the board of trustees.

At that time his saintly public image was still intact. As Cliff Huxtable in the hugely popular sitcom The Cosby Show he had come to represent the ideal American husband and father, even though the show had finished 12 years earlier.

In the 1980s the programme had been America’s top show and managed a cult following in the UK, where it was screened on Channel 4. Cosby and Andrea struck up what she believed to be a “sincere friendship”, and he became something of a mentor and confidante.

She has since said that he was a “narcissist” who missed clues that she was gay, and made several advances on her which she always knocked back. On the night of the alleged assault, she says Cosby invited her over to discuss her future career plans.

She felt “emotionally occupied” and “drained” by the conversation, and Cosby said “he wanted her to relax”. He gave her three blue pills, which he told her were “herbal”. Cosby insisted she drink wine afterwards and within 30 minutes, Andrea says she suffered blurred vision and difficulty speaking.

She told police she had “lost all strength in her legs” and felt nauseous. It was then that she says Cosby fondled and assaulted her, leaving her “frozen and paralysed.” In an affidavit filed this week, police said: “Cosby knew that his two prior sexual advances were blocked by the much younger, athletic victim.
“He knew that further attempts at sexual conduct would likewise be unsuccessful unless he was able to prevent her from resisting.”

Traumatised by the events, she quit her job and returned to her native Canada, where she continued to suffer nightmares. Her mother saw she was acting strangely and was no longer the bubbly woman she had once been.

A year later, Andrea finally found the courage to tell her mother of her experience and alert the authorities.
A criminal investigation began but was dropped when the district attorney said there was “insufficient credible and admissible evidence” to charge Cosby.

Instead, Andrea filed a civil claim, with 13 other women  who claimed they had also been assaulted lined up as witnesses. The public response was largely sceptical and some of the women faced threats and character attacks. Cosby settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in November 2006.

Despite the lawsuit and further sex abuse allegations that trickled out over the next decade, Cosby’s reputation remained unharmed. By 2014 he was poised to revive his career with a stand-up comedy special for Netflix and a prime-time TV project for NBC.

Then, unexpectedly, a clip of a stand-up act by US comedian Hannibal Buress went viral. In it, Buress called Cosby a rapist a claim which would prove a major catalyst for his alleged victims. More and more women came forward with stories of abuse.

They ranged in age from early 20s to 80 and went as far back as 1965. Cosby and his lawyers reacted with furious denials and in some cases tried to sue his accusers for defamation. In their effort to kill the story, it is claimed that Cosby violated a confidentiality agreement that was part of his settlement with Andrea in 2006.

Her lawyers successfully argued that as a result, his full deposition from the 2005 case should now be made public. This sworn out-of-court testimony by Cosby was duly released in July. In the sensational statement, Cosby admitted giving sedatives to women he wanted to have sex with.

However, he insists the pills he gave Andrea were the cold medicine Benadryl. He spoke at length of his many sexual liaisons with young women, which he insists were consensual. However, he admitted he went to some lengths to hide them from his wife Camille, blocking a magazine article to avoid publicity and giving money to one woman through his agent so that “Mrs Cosby” would not find out.

The release of the deposition was the final nail in the coffin for Cosby’s reputation. Disney removed his statue from Hollywood Studios park in Florida. Celebs joined the condemnation. Lena Dunham, creator of TV series Girls, said: “If I believed in hell, Bill Cosby would be going there.”

On her ABC show The View, Whoopi Goldberg had been a vocal defender of her friend, saying: “In America, still I know it’s a shock but you actually were innocent until proven guilty. He has not been proven a rapist.”

Her comments prompted an overwhelming number of complaints and ABC reportedly put pressure on the host to stop defending Cosby. She has since said: “‘I think you look at this case and you see the number of accusations and you say, “Wait a second . . . ”

Legal experts say the exposure of Cosby’s deposition has increased his accusers’ credibility, paving the way for the Constand case. Cosby continues to deny all charges against him. His lawyers stress they will “mount a vigorous defence against this unjustified charge.”

For now, he remains free on bail of $1million (£680,000) but must return to court on January 14 to enter his plea. The stage is set for one of the biggest celebrity trials in living memory  The Cosby Show he never hoped to make.