76-Year old Polish-French film director, producer, writer and actor Roman Polanski, who won Best Director Oscar for "The Pianist" in 2003, was arrested in Switzerland on a 1978 U.S. arrest warrant for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old. The 13-year old was Samantha Gailey (now known as Samantha Geimer)

According to Geimer, Polanski asked Geimer's mother if he could photograph the girl for the French edition of Vogue, which Polanski had been invited to guest-edit. Her mother allowed a private photo shoot. According to Geimer in a 2003 interview, "Everything was going fine; then he asked me to change, well, in front of him." She added, "It didn't feel right, and I didn't want to go back to the second shoot."

Geimer later agreed to a second session, which took place on March 10, 1977 at the Mulholland area home of actor Jack Nicholson in Los Angeles. "We did photos with me drinking champagne," Geimer says. "Toward the end it got a little scary, and I realized he had other intentions and I knew I was not where I should be. I just didn't quite know how to get myself out of there." Geimer testified that Polanski performed various sexual acts on her,after giving her a combination of champagne and quaaludes. In the 2003 interview, Geimer says she resisted. "I said no several times, and then, well, gave up on that."Source: en.wikipedia.org

Only watch it for the first 3 minutes for Samantha Gailey's interview!!!

Polanski was arrested in the United States in 1977 and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her at a photographic shoot at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood home. At that time, Polanski was 41 years old.

Maintaining the girl was sexually experienced and had consented, Polanski spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric tests but fled the country before being sentenced.Source: abcnews.go.com

After he fled USA, he stayed in France, avoiding countries that have extradition treaties with the United States. He was considered a fugitive from justice.

Turbulent life

His first wife Barbara Lass left him for German actor Karlheinz Böhm. His second wife, Sharon Tate, was brutally murdered by members of Charles Manson's "Family".

On August 9, 1969, Tate, who was eight months pregnant with the couple's first child (a boy), and four others (Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent) were brutally murdered by members of Charles Manson's "Family", who entered the Polanskis' rented home at 10050 Cielo Drive in the Hollywood Hills intending to "kill everyone there". Terry Melcher (son of film icon Doris Day) and his girlfriend at the time, actress Candice Bergen, had lived at the house, but had moved out in February, 1969. The following month, Polanski and Tate moved in. Melcher had angered Charles Manson because he had declined to record some of his music.

When Manson ordered members of his group to go to the property and kill everyone, they obeyed. After Parent, Sebring, Frykowski, and Folger had been murdered, Tate pleaded for the life of her unborn son. Susan Atkins replied that she felt no pity for her and began stabbing her.

Polanski was at his house in London at the time of the murders and immediately traveled to Los Angeles, where he was questioned by police. As there were no suspects in the case, police checked on the past history of Polanski and Tate to try to determine a motive. After a period of months, Manson and his "family" were arrested on unrelated charges, which revealed evidence of what came to be known as the Tate-LaBianca murders. Polanski returned to Europe shortly after the killers were arrested. He later said that he gave away all his possessions as everything reminded him of Tate and was too painful for him. His greatest regret was that he was not in Los Angeles with Tate on the night of the murders.Source: en.wikipedia.org

Some points about the incidence -

• The psychiatric tests showed that he was not a pedophile but was just a lapse in judgement.
• The then 13 year old Samantha Gailey and her parents didn't ask for any more punishment for him.
• It is claimed that the judge in the case got too caught up with the celebrity status of the case that he went after Polanski
• He never denied having sex with Samantha Gailey and he never said that he wasn't sorry.

Would like to know your thoughts about the incidence, please comment!