Cosby accuser was paralyzed by pills during sex assault -detective

The only woman whose accusations of sexual assault resulted in criminal charges against Bill Cosby told police she was attacked as she lay on a sofa “paralyzed” by drugs the entertainer had given her, a former detective said at a court hearing on Tuesday.

Reading from a transcript of Andrea Constand’s interview with police in January 2005, the witness said Cosby told her the pills would help her relax and “take the edge off.”

So Constand, a former basketball coach at Cosby’s Temple University alma mater, swallowed the pills, added a sip of wine and told the comedian that she trusted him, the former detective said.

Less than an hour later, according to Constand, Cosby sexually assaulted her as she lay incapacitated by the drugs she had taken, the former detective said.

Cosby, 78, followed the testimony from inside the packed courtroom in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

His own 2005 interview with police in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, where the purported 2004 assault took place, also was introduced as evidence.

Cosby admitted giving Constand one-and-a-half pills of the antihistamine Benadryl to relax her, Cheltenham Police Chief John Norris testified.

Cosby said Constand never told him to stop and was fully conscious during what he called the “petting” encounter, which he said involved fondling of genitals, Norris testified.

Once one of the most beloved U.S. entertainers, Cosby has been hit by a wave of sexual assault allegations from more than 50 women, although most of the cases are too old to be prosecuted. He has denied ever assaulting anyone.

Tuesday’s preliminary hearing is aimed at allowing the judge to determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

The hearing follows Sunday’s Associated Press report of new revelations about Cosby from his 2005 and 2006 sworn depositions, including his admission that he gave drugs to a 19-year-old woman before having sex.

Cosby also said that while filming one of his television sitcoms, he had an agency send him “five or six” models on a weekly basis, some ages 17 and 18, who were struggling to launch acting careers, the AP reported, citing a transcript of the deposition.

The depositions included his description of a 1976 encounter with a 19-year-old model named Therese Picking, now known as Therese Serignese, the report said. Cosby said their rendezvous occurred at a Las Vegas hotel in 1976, and he gave her Quaaludes before having sex.

In another case, he started a sexual relationship with a model who may have been as young as 17, according to the transcript.