Bill Cosby found guilty of sexually abusing 16-year-old Judy Huth in 1975

Huth, now 64, accused Cosby of luring her and a friend to the mansion, a few days after meeting them in a park.
Bill Cosby found guilty of sexually abusing 16-year-old Judy Huth in 1975

Los Angeles: A civil jury found that comedian-actor Bill Cosby sexually abused Judy Huth in 1975 when she was a 16-year-old, ordering him to pay $500,000. The verdict was in Huth's favour, which her attorney, Gloria Allred, hailed as a win toward "real change", although no punitive compensation was awarded, reports 'Variety'.

Huth, now 64, accused Cosby of luring her and a friend to the mansion, a few days after meeting them in a park.

"I was elated," Huth said outside the courthouse, reacting to the verdict and telling reporters that she is grateful for the jury. "It's been so many years, so many tears, it's just a long time coming." Allred praised Huth, speaking to reporters outside of the courthouse.

"The late United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg once said, 'Real change, enduring change happens one step at a time,'" Allred stated.

"Today, our client won real change because she fought Bill Cosby one step at a time for over seven-and-a-half years. She proved with the jury's verdict that Mr Cosby did sexually assault her when she was a minor, and that he should be held and was held accountable for what he did to her."

Allred noted that the case marks the first to go to trial under the Child Victims Act, which protects adult survivors of child sex abuse to come forward and hold their abuser accountable years later.

"She or he may come forward years later, and they will have a right to do so," the attorney and women's rights activist said outside court.

Cosby's team appeared to be pleased with the outcome. When the verdict was read with no punitive damages found, Cosby's spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, smiled in the gallery and his lawyers were gleeful as they exited the courtroom.

In a statement issued to the media, following the verdict, Cosby's spokesperson said, in part, "We have always maintained that Judy Huth, Gloria Allred and their cohorts fabricated these false accusations, in order to force Mr. Cosby to finance their racist mission against successful and accomplished Black Men in America."

The statement continued: "Mr. Cosby continues to maintain his innocence and will vigorously fight these false accusations, so that he can get back to bringing the pursuit of happiness, joy and laughter to the world."

The jury found that Cosby did intend to cause a harmful or offensive contact with Huth and that "sexually offensive contact" resulted, while also finding that Hugh was "harmed" by Cosby's conduct.

The jury concluded that any "normal person, without hesitation" would have been "disturbed, irritated, offended or injured" by Cosby's conduct. Nine jurors voted that they agreed that Cosby's conduct was motivated by an "unnatural or abnormal sexual interest in a minor, while three jurors did not agree.

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