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Maynooth University
Meet the silence breaker: Laura Madden Monaghan woman Laura Madden was awarded the President’s Medal 2020 by MU for her courage in speaking publicly about the sexual predation of Harvey Weinstein
W
hen the New York Supreme Court handed down a 23-year sentence to Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in March, it was one of the few stories that took top billing over the Covid-19 pandemic.
Just weeks before, a jury had found Weinstein guilty of the rape and sexual assault of two of the five women who testified against him. His legal team had pleaded leniency, citing pre-existing health issues and his “historic fall from grace.”
But for all the women who had told their traumatic stories and faced down media publicity and a smear campaign by Weinstein’s lawyers, the severity of this sentence was of vital importance. One of those women, Monaghan native Laura Madden, expressed relief when she heard that Weinstein would spend 23 years behind bars. “It’s an incredible result for the women who so bravely took the stand,” she said. “It’s vindicating to see the justice system work in favour of Weinstein’s victims at last.” As the first woman to go on the record for a New York Times exposé by journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, Madden’s role was pivotal in bringing to light the activities of Weinstein who for two decades had succeeded in silencing his accusers with nondisclosure agreements.