‘Predator’ Cosby gets up to 10 years in jail for sexual assault

Norristown, September 25 

Disgraced television icon Bill Cosby was sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison on Tuesday and branded a “sexually violent predator” for assaulting a woman at his Philadelphia mansion 14 years ago.

The 81-year-old, once beloved by millions as “America's Dad”, is the first celebrity convicted and sentenced for a sex crime since the downfall of Harvey Weinstein ushered in the #MeToo movement and America's reckoning with sexual harassment.

Found guilty five months ago of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, a former university basketball administrator, Cosby was impassive when Judge Steven O’ Neill handed down the sentence in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

It makes him one of the famous Americans ever ordered to serve a prison sentence, in a country where fame and unlimited wealth spent on brilliant lawyers have tended to help celebrities avoid jail in the past.

The sentence means that Cosby could spend at least three years in prison, but up to 10. While the defence asked their client to remain under house arrest pending an appeal, the judge ordered him to be remanded in custody.

“You were convicted of a very serious crime,” O'Neill said. “No one is above law.” — AFP

1st celebrity casualty

The first celebrity to go on trial in the #MeToo era, Cosby was convicted in April of three counts of indecent assault for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004.