Bill Cosby to stand trial on sexual assault charge

A Pennsylvania judge has ordered American comedian, Bill Cosby, to stand trail on accusations of sexual assault.

Judge Elizabeth McHugh said she found out that prosecutors had presented enough evidence to support allegations that Cosby drugged and assaulted a woman in 2004.

The judge had rejected the arguments from Cosby’s defence lawyers that the case should be thrown out.

The decision followed a three-and-half hour preliminary hearing in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where prosecutors introduced statements that Cosby and the woman, Andrea Constand, separately gave to police in 2005.

She told police in 2005 she was attacked as she lay on a sofa at Cosby’s Philadelphia-area home “paralyzed” by drugs the entertainer had given her.

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Constand, a former basketball coach at Cosby’s Temple University alma mater, is the only woman whose accusations of sexual assault have resulted in criminal charges against Cosby.

The comedian has been hit by sexual assault allegations from more than 50 women but he has denied assaulting anyone.

Cosby’s lawyer, Brian McMonagle said after the hearing that prosecutors relied on an 11-year-old “hearsay” statement rather than present a live witness because their case was weak. He expressed confidence Cosby would be absolved.

“Prove that there was no crime committed here. That there was no evidence of a crime here. And that the inconsistencies that plagued this investigation from the beginning continue to plague it now. This case should end immediately,” Cosby’s lawyer said.

He pointed to discrepancies between Constand’s initial interview with a detective and her later written statement, including her inability to recall precisely when the incident occurred.

He also said she had consensual sexual encounters with Cosby on other occasions, had dinner with Cosby after the alleged assault and later took her family to see his show in Toronto, Canada.