Roman Polanski accused of rape by a 4th woman

Former German actor Renate Langer, now 61, has reported to the Swiss police that Polish film director Roman Polanski raped her when she was 15 years old.

The alleged rape took place in Gstaad, Switzerland in February 1972, claims Langer, bringing the total number of rape accusations against Polanski to four.

Langer went to the Swiss police because it has eliminated its statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases (though the law still limits prosecution in old cases). Police told Langer that another office would be responsible for making the decision on whether she could file a criminal complaint.

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She fully admitted that she had never reported the alleged rape to anybody before — not even her close friends or family — except for an old boyfriend. Like many women who’ve suffered sexual abuse, she opted to stay silent to protect her parents and her own mental sanity.

“My mother would have had a heart attack,” she said. “I felt ashamed and embarrassed and lost and solo.”

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Langer said Polanski raped her in the bedroom of his home, despite her attempts to break free or defend herself. After a month passed, she said that he called her and offered her a small role in his upcoming movie, Che? After he convinced her that he would treat her as a professional, she accepted the offer.

After shooting began, Langer claims that he raped her once more when she was alone in the home she’d been staying in. Again, Langer said her attempts at defending herself were fruitless.

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“This had an influence on all of my life,” she said.

Polanski, 84, has lived as a fugitive in Europe since pleading guilty in Los Angeles in 1977 to having sex with a minor. In April, a Los Angeles County judge denied Polanski’s latest effort to resolve the 40-year-old statutory rape case, saying that the filmmaker cannot be sentenced in absentia because he remains a fugitive from justice.

Samantha Geimer was one of Polanski’s victims; she was a 13-year-old junior high student when Polanski, then 43, took her to actor Jack Nicholson’s house for a photo shoot. He gave her champagne and part of a Quaalude pill and, according to testimony from Geimer, forced her to have sex with him.

After pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, Polanski was sent to a state prison for a 90-day diagnostic evaluation. Judge Laurence Rittenband, who was presiding over the case at the time, said the evaluation would help him reach a fair sentencing decision. The director was released after 42 days, with prison officials saying he did not need additional prison time.

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Rittenband, facing fierce media pressure, went against the recommendation and decided to send Polanski back to prison for an additional 48 days.

Polanski then hopped a flight to Europe and never returned.

In August, a woman identified only by her first name, Robin, accused Polanski of “sexually victimizing” her in 1973, when she was 16 years old. In 2010, British actor Charlotte Lewis said Polanski sexually abused her at the same age: 16.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the Zurich Film Festival, published Monday, Polanski said he considered the Geimer case to be over and done with.

As the decades have worn on, two portraits of Polanski have emerged. Many still shun him as a criminal who fled from justice. But some in Hollywood have argued that he was treated unfairly by a judge who wanted to make an example of a powerful filmmaker.

Polanski’s lawyer, Harland Braun, declined to comment on the new accusation by Langer.

— With files from The Associated Press