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Harvey Weinstein found guilty of Hollywood rape, victim hopes he ‘never sees outside a prison cell’

  • Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape and two other sexual assault counts by a Los Angeles jury
  • It marks the second conviction of the one-time Hollywood kingmaker who became a major target of the #MeToo movement

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Former film producer Harvey Weinstein. File photo: Reuters

Disgraced US movie titan Harvey Weinstein was convicted of the rape and sexual assault of a woman a decade ago, in what prosecutors said was part of his “reign of terror” over aspiring young actresses in Hollywood.

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The 70-year-old Pulp Fiction producer, who was once one of the most powerful men in the film industry, faces up to 24 years in jail, in addition to a sentence he is already serving for sex crimes in New York.

His victim in the Los Angeles case said Monday she hopes he “never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime”.

“Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get that back,” the woman, identified during the trial as Jane Doe #1, said in a statement on Monday.

A weeks-long trial heard graphic descriptions of encounters between the once-powerful producer and women who were trying to make their way in the world of movies.

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Prosecutors painted a picture of a predatory ogre, who for years used his physical size and his professional prowess to rape and abuse women with impunity.

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