Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Roman Polanski

34 replies

passionfruity · 27/09/2009 20:31

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8277176.stm

He pleaded guilty to raping (sodomy) a thirteen year old girl and then skipped bail - but apparently he should continue to get away with it because he's a good film director and it was a long time ago. WTF?!

OP posts:
footinmouth · 27/09/2009 20:33

That's awful.

Obviously it's who you know

footinmouth · 27/09/2009 20:33

bump!!

southeastastra · 27/09/2009 20:34

i did laugh when i heard this today

TinyPawz · 27/09/2009 22:56

Finally...personally believe that rapists and child molesters/abusers should get death penalty.

Capital punishment should be brought back

lisianthus · 28/09/2009 14:25

Yes thank goodness they've caught him. The part that puzzles me though is why he should get away with it because he is a film director.

It's not as if he's discovered a cure for cancer. He just entertains people ffs. (Not that you should get away with raping a child because you had ANY particular job, just that it's weird that directing films seems to give him such a halo.)

crankytwanky · 28/09/2009 14:31

This has been making me so for years. He pleaded guilty. Yeah his wife had just been murdered, but becoming a paedophile is not part of thr grief process, IIRC!

Ditto R Kelly.

Fairynufff · 28/09/2009 14:38

It always pisses me off that because someone is considered a great 'artist' they are somehow excused of these crimes by the great and good...

randomtask · 28/09/2009 14:42

I just can't understand that if he's said he did it and so did the girl, where's the issue? He's guilty, he should serve his punishment whatever that is. I also like the fact that the girl doesn't want him charged as she's already got money out of him. Nice.

I can't believe all those people are coming out to defend him!

dittany · 28/09/2009 14:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 28/09/2009 14:43

link

Dragonfly73 · 28/09/2009 15:04

I am not defending the man. I personally think what he did was dreadful and no amount of grief is an excuse for those action. Nor is being a halfway decent director/artist etc.

I just wanted to say that the reason he skipped bail was that he originally pled guilty to a plea deal offered by the judge. He pled guilty only on that basis but then when it came to the next hearing, the judge rescinded the plea agreement and ruled his guilty plea was actually in response to the original charges (which i believe have been mentioned in the original post, sodomy & rape etc).

He apparently tried for years to get the judges misconduct taken into account and the guilty plea expunged so he could come back and actually go to trial but was never successful. I believe he tried again just a couple of months ago.

Not defending, just adding some important background info.

dittany · 28/09/2009 15:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CowWatcher · 28/09/2009 15:15

I alos do not want to defend the guy. And whoever it was on the today prog this am defending him - what if it had been your 13 yearold daughter? But I understand that he has been trying to get judge's misconduct to be recognised but that the local courts won't hear the case unless he is present & then he gets slung in the slammer in the meantime (which probably where he belongs).

lisianthus · 28/09/2009 15:23

Here's a link. www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/sep/28/roman-polanski

Apparently the bargain was that he would serve 42 days in prison (which he had already done) and pay a fine. The judge then realised that there would be an uproar if he got off that lightly.

MichKit · 28/09/2009 15:48

Bugs me that he says it was consensual. Can a 13 year old really make that decision?

Also, the victim apparently does not want him to be prosecuted.

randomtask · 28/09/2009 15:53

What him saying it was consensual means to me is that he'd do it again as he can't see the problem....

Stigaloid · 28/09/2009 15:54

I thought he admitted to drugging and having sex with her, and it wasn't consensual?

MichKit · 28/09/2009 15:56

Here's where I got that from.

MmeLindt · 28/09/2009 15:56

Sex between a 44yo a 13yo is never consensual. It is rape.

He may claim that she "looked older" but he must have known how old she was.

I feel sorry for her having this all dragged up again. It must be agonising.

Gracelo · 03/01/2010 08:37

I'm somewhat lost for words:

Mon petit sex offender

BrahmsThirdRacket · 03/01/2010 11:22

"Am I repulsed by what he got up to? His behaviour is not my business. I?m concerned about his movies. I like The Pianist and Rosemary?s Baby"

What a cock.

Patsy99 · 05/01/2010 20:02

You think that's bad. Gore Vidal defended Polanski, saying that he wasn't going to get upset every time some little whore complained she'd been taken advantage of. Whether she consented or not (and from what I've read she sounded co-erced at the very least) he had anal sex with a 13 year old girl. Why do the clubbable male liberals always rush to defend men accussed of sexual misdemeanours, even ones this serious? Was v pleased Graydon Carter has spoken out about the Polanski case.

thesecondcoming · 05/01/2010 20:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ImSoNotTelling · 05/01/2010 21:03

Maybe because he married her?

Dunno. They went on chat shows together when she was v young I seem to remember, there seemingly was appropval.

As for this bloke defending polanski, I concur with brahms sentiment.

chegirlsgotheartburn · 05/01/2010 21:10

Bill Wyman seemed to get off totally unscathed. That child's mother seemed to have pimped her to a rock star and then got it on with his son - nice.

She appeared to go on to be totally screwed up for a long time.

I remember the case clearly and the press were horrible about her [Mandy Smith]. She was portrayed as a brainless bimbo.

Bloody shocking. She was 13 for fecks sake.