A Californian artist has accused Roman Polanski of sexually assaulting her when she was 10 years old, the fifth such allegation of abuse made against the director.

Marianne Barnard has told the Sun that she was molested by Polanski in 1975, two years before the director fled the US after pleading guilty to statutory rape. The artist claims that the incident took place at a beach in California following a photoshoot where the director asked her to pose naked.

“At first I had the understanding I was just going to the beach with my mom. We were there for a little while by ourselves and then he was there,” Barnard said. “And she explained that this man wanted to take pictures of me in this fur coat. I thought it was to go into a magazine or something.”

Barnard says that Polanski initially took photos of her wearing a fur coat and a bikini but later asked her to pose naked. “At some point I realised my mom had gone. I don’t know where she went and I didn’t really register her leaving but she was no longer there. Then he molested me,” she added.

Barnard, who says she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and claustrophobia as a result of her experiences, felt emboldened to come forward following the scandal surrounding disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein, who denies allegations of criminal sexual harassment, rape and sexual assault made against him by more than 50 women.



“I felt terribly conflicted that I have been silent all this time and all these women are bravely coming forward and I thought to myself I can’t in good conscience knowing what I know – and having gone through what I’ve gone through – not speak out,” Barnard said. “Even though it puts me in a very bad … position with my mom and Polanski and other people who are involved, I can’t be silent any more.”

Barnard has made an official report with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division (RHD) sex crimes unit about the incident and has also launched a petition calling on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to revoke Polanski’s membership, as they have done with Weinstein.

Speaking via his agent, Polanski denied the claims. “I entirely reject the unfounded allegations of Mme. Barnard, of whom I have no knowledge,” the director said.

Polanski remains a fugitive from justice after leaving the US shortly before he was due to stand trial for the sexual assault of a minor in 1977. The director had admitted to unlawful sexual intercourse with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in pre-trial custody, but fled the country, fearing that a plea bargain he had made with prosecutors would be overruled. In June, a superior court judge rejected a request to dismiss the case by Geimer, who says she has forgiven Polanski and wants the incident put to rest “as an act of mercy to myself and my family”.



Since Geimer’s allegations, the director has faced allegations of sexual assault by three additional women. In 2010, British actor Charlotte Lewis said that Polanski had “forced himself” on her while she was auditioning for a role in Paris in 1983, while this year, two more women have come forward with their own accounts of alleged assault at the hands of the director.