By Lisa Richwine

SANTA MONICA (Reuters) – The woman accused of assaulting Bill Cosby in mid-1970s opened her court hearing Monday. She described how she met Cosby as a teenager and how they accompanied him to Playboy Mansion.

Judy Huth has brought a civil case against Cosby seeking unspecified damages. Judy said she was playing frisbee on a weekday in a local park when she noticed that a movie was being shot. Donna Samuelson and her friend, Judy Huth, approached the scene and saw Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier.

Cosby approached her and “batter” with them, she claimed. Then, he invited them all to his tennis club on Saturday the next day. Samuelson was “excited” by her, she claimed.

We were children. She was an international celebrity. She said it was “out of the norm”.

Huth claimed that Samuelson and she met Cosby at the tennis court, and then they drove to Samuelson’s home to play a few rounds of pool before following him to another place. Huth saw a photograph of Hugh Hefner hanging on the wall and realized that it was Playboy Mansion.

Huth (64) will be continuing her testimony on Tuesday.

Huth claims that Cosby made her perform sex acts while she was in the house. Huth previously stated the incident happened in 1974. However, her attorney recently said that she believes it took place in 1975.

California is hosting the civil trial, which will be one of the final legal cases against Cosby. It takes place eleven months after Cosby was released prison by Pennsylvania’s highest court, who tossed his previous sexual assault conviction.

Jennifer Bonjean, Cosby’s attorney stated that Huth had been allegedly assaulted by Cosby in his opening statements. However, Cosby has not denied that Huth was invited to the house with her friend.

“The evidence is going be showing that Ms. Huth doesn’t tell the truth,” she stated.

Samuelson, Huth’s friend recounted the events on Monday. Bonjean challenged Huth’s account of the visit to the mansion, noting that Samuelson had previously recalled playing Donkey Kong arcade games, which were not available until 1981.

Cosby (84) isn’t expected to go to the trial.

The comedy and acting star is well-known as his character in The Cosby Show’s 1980s TV comedy. He earned the nickname, “America’s Dad”.

His family-friendly reputation was destroyed after more than 50 women accused of him of sexual assaults in the past five decades.

Cosby was convicted of drugging, and molestation Andrea Constand in 2018. Constand had been an employee at Temple University, Philadelphia.

In June 2021, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court retorted Cosby’s conviction after Cosby had already served between three and ten years.

Cosby shouldn’t have been charged because Cosby had previously promised not to be prosecuted by a prior district attorney in 2005. This decision was not reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court in March.