Roman Polanski
A Different Account
How can two people have such differing recollections of the same event? Is it possible that Polanski didn't believe he had done anything wrong; that he was so used to sleeping with younger girls impressed by his power and fame that it seemed like nothing at all to drug and sexually assault a 13-year-old? He told his attorney Douglas Dalton a version of the events that is similar to, but varies dramatically in tone from, Samantha's account.
He said that she'd had two glasses of champagne. "It was dusky," he recalled. "I said we should call her mother. She talked and I talked... She told her mother about the Jacuzzi and that she was going in."
He continued: "I found a little box in the bathroom with Quaalude pieces marked 'Rorer.' She took one piece. There was conversation about it, but there was no actual offer by me."
And he maintained, "I went to the bedroom. She never objected. No, we didn't discuss birth controls there, we discussed them later the car. There was no discussion about her period. I withdrew before climax. There was no discussion about what to tell her mother. The whole thing was very spontaneous. It was not planned."