New York, United States (AFP)—Miriam Haleyi told jurors at Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault and rape retrial Tuesday that the mogul “humiliated” her and reduced her to tears, recounting to the court her ordeal, the disclosure of which fired the “MeToo” movement.

Haleyi previously worked for Weinstein and her testimony was key to his conviction in 2020, subsequently overturned by an appeals court triggering the retrial at which she began to testify Tuesday. She will take the stand again Wednesday.

The former Miramax studio boss is charged with the 2006 sexual assault of former production assistant Haleyi and the 2013 rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann. He also faces a new count for an alleged sexual assault of a 19-year-old in 2006.

Ahead of 48-year-old Haleyi’s evidence, her lawyer Gloria Allred told journalists: “It is a big sacrifice for her to return to New York in terms of time, emotionally, to have to relive again what she alleged happened to her many years ago in 2006.”

“But she’s willing to do it. I’m very proud of her. She’s doing it for only one reason — because it’s for the cause of justice,” Allred said.

Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey recounted Weinstein’s alleged attacks in graphic detail during opening statements, saying all three women had begged him to stop, but that he had “all the power… He made all these women feel small.”

Prosecutors have described how Weinstein pestered Haleyi with multiple requests for massages and sexual favors before she found herself alone with him in an apartment one day in 2006.

They detailed how Weinstein then forced himself on Haleyi, performing oral sex on her despite her pleas for him to stop.

The award-winning movie producer, who was brought into the Manhattan criminal court in a wheelchair and wore a dark business suit, looked somber at times during the proceedings.

Accusers describe the impresario as a predator who used his perch atop the cinema industry to pressure actresses and assistants for sexual favors, often in hotel rooms.

But Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s defense attorney, has argued that the jury would hear no evidence of the use of force or a lack of consent.

Weinstein’s 2020 convictions over Haleyi and Mann were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original New York trial was unlawful.

The 73-year-old has said he hopes his case will be judged with “fresh eyes.”

Weinstein is already serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.

The producer of a string of box office hits such as “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” Weinstein has battled health issues.

He has never acknowledged any wrongdoing and has always maintained that the encounters were consensual.