In 1977 acclaimed film director Roman Polanski plead guilty to having sex with a minor – a 13-year-old girl; fast-forward thirty years later and the director still hasn’t paid for the crime – however he has been hugely inconvenienced by dodging extradition for all these years. Yesterday Polanski landed the ultimate ‘get out of jail free’ gesture when a Swiss court rejected his extradition to the US where he would face the decades-old rape charges.
Essentially Roman is now a free man.
The story goes that Samantha Geimer (the victim) was given champagne and drugs before Polanski had sex with her without her consent. Now 46 years old, Geimer has gone on the record to state that she can live with the unpleasant memory.
Ten months ago, the filmmaker was arrested by US authorities but was bailed out of prison after paying 4.32 million dollars in bail and surrendering his passport. The last eight months have seen him under house arrest in a ski chalet in Switzerland, which has no doubt been a harrowing experience; however at yesterday’s trial Swiss authorities ruled that Polanski was no longer subject to house arrest or any monitoring in the country.
So is the lesson here that crime has an expiry date?
