In a New York courtroom on Thursday, 37-year-oldKaja Sokola testified before a jury and exposed the trauma she alleges has tormented her for almost two decades. The ex-Polish model, one of Harvey Weinstein’s numerous accusers, testified graphically and emotionally about being sexually assaulted by the former Hollywood producer in 2006, a few days shy of her 20th birthday.
Sokola testified against Weinstein during his retrial in Manhattan, for which he is charged with three counts of sexual misconduct against Sokola and two other women, former TV production assistant Miriam Haley and actress Jessica Mann.
A Meeting That Turned Into a Nightmare
According to Sokola, the 2006 assault happened in a Tribeca hotel, during a lunch meeting attended by her older sister and Weinstein. She had hoped to impress her sister by showing her that she knew a “real producer” who could help her acting career.
At some point during the meal, Weinstein said he had scripts in his hotel room upstairs. Sokola agreed to go with him while her sister stayed behind in the restaurant. She testified that she had no intention of any romantic or sexual interaction.
Once inside the room, Sokola said Weinstein pushed her onto the bed. “I was trying to resist — to not fall down on the bed completely,” she told the courtroom. But he pushed again, and this time she ended up on her back.
Weinstein allegedly removed her boots, stockings, and underwear while she repeatedly pleaded, “Please don’t. Please stop. I don’t want this.” She described being pinned down and unable to move. “He forced himself on my va**** and he ra*** me,” she said, specifying that Weinstein performed oral s*x on her.
“I felt completely numb,” Sokola recalled. “My hope just died.” Afterward, she said he told her, “You see? That wasn’t so difficult.”
The Aftermath
Sokola returned downstairs to meet her sister, shaken and empty-handed. There were no scripts, no paperwork, no career opportunity, just silence. She didn’t tell her sister what happened. “I tried to pretend that nothing ever happened,” she said, adding that she blamed herself for being “stupid enough” to go with him.
The 2002 Encounter
Though Weinstein isn’t facing charges related to a separate incident in 2002, Sokola’s testimony about that earlier encounter was allowed in court to show what prosecutors called his “propensity” for predatory behavior.
She was just 16 when she first met Weinstein at an event and gave him her number to discuss film work. Days later, he brought her to his SoHo apartment alone. There, he instructed her to follow him into the bathroom. “He was so many years older than me,” Sokola said tearfully. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Before entering the bathroom, she had already taken off her top and was left in her bra and jeans. Weinstein allegedly told her to get used to nudity if she wanted to be an actress. Inside the bathroom, Sokola says he pulled his pants down and gr**** her, placing her hand on his pe***. “It was the most horrifying thing I had ever experienced,” she said.
Despite that incident, Sokola said she had further contact with Weinstein in hopes of pursuing her acting dream. In 2004, he allegedly gr**** her again during a meeting in his car. In 2006, he gave her a small role as an extra in The Nanny Diaries, though he was not present on set. Later that year came the hotel assault.
A Trial of Patterns and Power
Weinstein is currently charged with two counts of committing a “criminal sexual act” in the first degree and one count of third-degree rape. Sokola’s graphic testimony is expected to play a crucial role in the case.
Judge Curtis J. Farber explained to jurors that the earlier 2002 incident was introduced to demonstrate Weinstein’s alleged pattern of behavior, even though he isn’t facing charges for that particular assault.
Sokola’s account joins a long list of disturbing allegations against Weinstein, who has already been convicted in a previous trial and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He has denied all accusations of non-consensual s**.
For Sokola, speaking publicly in court was an act of courage. In describing her silence, her shame, and her long journey from fear to testimony, she reminded the world just how powerful and painful speaking out can be.
