Kevin Spacey called "sexual bully" as U.K. trial gets underway

Kevin Spacey’s U.K. trial, in which he faces 12 charges of sexual assault, opened Friday with prosecutor Christine Agnew calling Spacey a man who “sexually assaults other men, a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully,” per Deadline.

The 12 charges against Spacey come from complaints of “four men who are not known to each other but had the misfortune to attract Mr. Spacey’s attention,” Agnew said (via Variety). All of them were allegedly subject to unwanted touching from Spacey, who was said to have repeatedly “[grabbed] aggressively other men in the crotch.” In at least one instance, he grabbed a complainant’s “penis with such force it was painful.” One complainant reported being invited back to Spacey’s residence after drinking, where he passed out, and woke up to the actor performing oral sex on him.

“None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way but he doesn’t seem to have cared very much for their feelings. He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification,” Agnew said (per Deadline). Of Spacey’s response to the allegations, she said, “in relation to some he suggests that they are quite simply made up. In relation to others, he accepts that there was a sexual encounter between him and the other man but asserts that anything that took place would have taken place with the consent of the other man.”

In his own remarks Spacey’s lawyer Patrick Gibbs denied any wrongdoing and asked the jury to consider that the House Of Cards star could have “reasonably believed” some of the encounters “to be consensual at the time.” He insinuated that the allegations were being made because of Spacey’s fame, saying, “You will soon hear, I suggest, some truths, you will soon hear some half-truths, you will also hear some deliberate exaggerations and you’ll hear many damned lies” (via Variety).

Following the conclusion of the criminal trial, some of the complainants are reportedly pursuing a civil case against Space, according to Variety. The current trial is set to continue for at least four weeks.