Comedian Bill Cosby has been sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for sexual assault.<\/p>\n
Cosby, 81, has also been categorised as a sexually violent predator, meaning he must undergo counselling for life and be listed on the sex offender registry.<\/p>\n
The actor declined to make a statement when a judge gave him the opportunity.<\/p>\n
At a retrial in April,\u00a0Cosby was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault<\/a>\u00a0for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004.<\/p>\n Judge Steven O’Neill has also denied Cosby’s request for bail pending appeal.<\/p>\n After delivering the sentence, Judge O’Neill said: “Mr Cosby you took her beautiful healthy young spirit and crushed it.”<\/p>\n He told Ms Constand he “heard the very clear impact” the assault had on her life.<\/p>\n Ahead of the sentence, the judge designated Cosby a sexually violent predator, despite the defence’s argument that Cosby’s age and blindness mean he is not a threat.<\/p>\n Tuesday’s classification means he will need to register with state police and notify any community he lives in of his sex offender status, as well as undergo mandatory counselling for life.<\/p>\n Neighbours, childcare centres and schools will have be notified of the whereabouts of the entertainer once known as America’s Dad.<\/p>\n The actor’s defence team had argued the state’s sex offender law was too severe given Cosby’s age and the fact that he is legally blind.<\/p>\n The disgraced comedian’s two-day hearing at Montgomery County Courthouse in Pennsylvania began on Monday with legal debate over the violent predator label.<\/p>\n Psychologist Kristen Dudley testified on Monday that Cosby showed signs of a mental disorder and was likely to reoffend.<\/p>\n In addition to the label, Cosby still faces a maximum prison term of 10 years after an agreement between prosecutors and his defence team, but there is no mandatory minimum for the convictions.<\/p>\n The Montgomery County District Attorney, Kevin Steele, called for five to 10 years in jail for aggravated indecent assault.<\/p>\n Cosby’s defence is pushing instead for house arrest.<\/p>\n In June 2017, Ms Constand described how Cosby, whom she viewed as a “mentor”, gave her pills that left her “frozen” and unable to stop his assault.<\/p>\n In Ms Constand’s impact statement, provided to reporters by the prosecution team on Tuesday, she said: “To truly understand the impact that the sexual assault has had on my life, you have to understand the person that I was before it happened.”<\/p>\n Ms Constand wrote that she stopped eating, sleeping and socialising in the wake of the assault. She said she had been a “young woman brimming with confidence” before Cosby took that from her.<\/p>\n “Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it. He robbed me of my health and vitality, my open nature, and my trust in myself and others.”<\/p>\n Lili Bernard and former model Janice Dickinson – both Cosby accusers present at the hearing – tweeted on Tuesday: “May justice be served! #MeToo”.<\/p>\n Cosby’s wife, Camille, has not been present at the sentencing.<\/p>\n The comedian was arrested in 2015 and\u00a0a deadlocked jury resulted in a mistrial<\/a> in June 2017.<\/p>\n This year’s retrial occurred amid the #MeToo movement that has seen people worldwide come forward to share stories of sexual harassment and assault.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"