When British actress Charlotte Lewis first came forward to accuse fugitive director Roman Polanski of abusing her in 1983 at a press conference last week, one of the more intriguing statements was made by her attorney Gloria Allred:

“[Ms. Lewis] did present fresh complaint evidence to law enforcement, and it is in their possession.”

The Polanski-loving media didn’t mention this. They prefer a “He Said, She Said” argument. Upon hearing this, however, my first thought was that a witness would be interesting, though obviously unlikely.

This is me speculating, but in a just-released statement Ms. Lewis might have revealed what that fresh complaint evidence is. And while it’s not a witness to the crime, it is the next best thing:

I stand by my statements to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and would welcome the chance to confront Roman Polanski face to face anytime, anywhere in the world because I am telling the truth and he knows it,” Ms Lewis said.

“Further, shortly after the incident with Mr Polanski when I was 16 I told a friend the truth about how Mr Polanski had taken advantage of me.

“My attorney, Gloria Allred, delivered a notarised statement to law enforcement from that friend and it supports my statement.”

According to Ms. Lewis, under penalty of perjury, someone has made a sworn statement that Ms. Lewis told them Polanski took advantage of her — and told them shortly after the incident.

This is push-back from the Lewis camp now that a contradictory interview she gave in 1999 has started to circulate. But this was expected. Last Sunday Ms. Lewis gave the Mail Online a lengthy interview where these contradictory statements were mentioned:

In another interview in 1999 Charlotte went on to claim that she did have a relationship with Polanski. But that it started after she had been cast in the film and when she was 17.

‘I wanted him probably more than he wanted me,’ she said then, claiming that they were lovers for six months in an affair that ended only when they began filming Pirates in Tunisia. She claimed afterwards that she’d been misquoted.

I’ve been waiting for Polanski’s many apologists to dredge up the 1999 story. That’s not to say it’s unfair for them to do so or irrelevant to the case, but that we knew this was coming before it hit and that Ms. Lewis was already on record claiming she was misquoted is not a small thing.

Nor is a corroborating witness to what Ms. Lewis herself described:

“Mr. Polanski knew that I was only just 16 years when he met me and forced himself upon me in his apartment in Paris. He took advantage of me[.]”

In the comment section please do explain how France’s age of consent law being 16 makes it okay to “force” yourself on a young girl and take “advantage” of her.

Please do enlighten us as to how that law is in any way at all relevant to these charges.