Popular U.S comedian, Bill Cosby, has been found liable for sexually assaulting a teenager (now a 64year-old woman) at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
Reuters reports that a California jury on Tuesday declared the comedian guilty and awarded the victim, Judy Huth, $500,000 in damages for emotional distress she went through for many years.
Numerous allegations have also been brought from other women against Cosby for similar offences in the past.
According to the report, Huth testified that the comedian invited her and a friend to the Playboy Mansion when she was 16, and he was 37, and forced her to perform a sex act.
She disclosed to adjudicators that Cosby held her hand and used it to rub his genital organ.
Cosby, who did not appear in person at the trial, denied the allegation. In video of a deposition shown to jurors, Cosby said he did not remember Huth.
He argued that the incident could not have happened because he would not have pursued sexual contact at that time with someone who was under age 18..
The civil trial took place almost a year after Cosby was freed from prison when Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out his sexual assault conviction in a different criminal case brought against him.
Cosby, 84, is best known for his role as the lovable husband and father in the 1980s television comedy series “The Cosby Show,” earning him the nickname “America’s Dad.”
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