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Four sides to the Bill Cosby story: Everything you need to know

(Warning: Content may upset sensitive readers)

Pennsylvania - Bill Cosby was accused of sexually assaulting then-Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his home outside Philadelphia in early 2004. He has said the encounter was consensual.

Here are summaries, from the criminal complaint and a deposition, of what Constand told police happened that night; what her mother says Cosby told her happened; what Cosby told police occurred; and what Cosby said when questioned in a civil lawsuit.

Constand's account

Cosby and Constand met at his suburban Philadelphia home to talk about her career.

She arrives at 20:45. Cosby greets her in a sweat suit. After discussing her career plans, Constand tells him she feels "drained" and "emotionally occupied" and that she had been missing sleep.

Cosby says he wants her to relax. He gives her three blue pills. He tells her "these will make you feel good" and will "take the edge off."

She asks if they are herbal. He says "Yes. Down them." She tells Cosby she trusts him, and then takes them with water.

Cosby then tells her to "taste the wine." She resists, saying she hadn't eaten that day. He tells her "just taste the wine." She takes a couple sips.

Within 30 minutes, she experiences blurred vision and difficulty speaking. He tells her to lie down and assists her to the couch. Cosby says he would let her relax.

She sits on the couch. Cosby positions himself behind her. He fondles her breasts, puts his hands into her pants and penetrates her with his fingers. Cosby also takes her right hand and places it on his penis.

She says she didn't consent to any of the acts and was unable to move or speak when they occurred. She says she was "frozen" and "paralyzed."

Constand awakes at 4:00, finds her sweater bunched up, her bra above her breasts. Cosby appears in a robe, gives her a muffin, walks her to the door and says "all right." She says nothing.

What Cosby said happened, according to Constand's mother

Within three months of the encounter, Constand returns to her parents' home in Canada. In January 2005, Constand tells her mother Cosby had sexually assaulted her. They file a complaint with police. On 16 January, 2005, Cosby returns a call from Constand's mother and they talk for more than two hours.

Her account of a portion of the conversation:

She asks Cosby what he gave her daughter. He says he will have to look at "the prescription bottle." He says he can't read the label because of an eye condition but will write it down and mail it to her.

He admits having fondled her breasts, having digitally penetrated her and having placed Constand's hand on his penis for sexual gratification.

Cosby apologises and offers to cover any expenses associated with therapy.

(Attorney Gloria Allred speaks during a press conference in response to the felony sexual assault charges levied against comedian Bill Cosby stemming from an alleged January 2004 assault of Temple University employee Andrea Constand at Cosby's Pennsylvania home. Photo: Getty Images)

Cosby's account to investigators

Cosby says he didn't intend for Constand to stay the night. The two talk about issues she is having, her tension and her inability to sleep.

He gets her over-the-counter Benadryl and gives her one whole pill and one half pill. He says he would usually take two and they would make him drowsy and go to sleep. He says he didn't tell Constand what they were.

They pet, and then he touches her bare breast and her "private parts." Constand does not tell him to stop or push him away. She doesn't say her vision is blurred or she felt paralyzed. "In short," investigators wrote, "Cosby described the incident as a consensual sexual encounter."

Cosby says he went to bed. When they wake up, they talk, he gives her a muffin and tea, and she leaves.

Asked if he had had sexual intercourse with her on any occasion, he says "never asleep or awake."

He says he had told Constand's mother he had touched her daughter's breasts and vagina but "guaranteed her that there was no penile penetration."

Cosby's account from a deposition in a civil lawsuit

He did not verbally ask Constand permission to engage in the encounter.

He says: "The action is my hand on her midriff, which is skin. I'm not lifting any clothing up. This is, I don't remember fully what it is, but it's there and I can feel. I got her skin and it's just above the hand and it's just above where you can go under the pants."

After that, he says: "I don't hear her say anything. And I don't feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped."

The encounter stops briefly and restarts, then lasting "about four seconds."

"And the reason why it's four seconds is because Andrea said to me either one of two words: stop, no. I pull back. ... And I take her, still feeling the glow, still feeling that the two of us are warm, not lovers, but warm. We've exchanged some kind of sexual feelings.

"I walk her out. She does not look angry. She does not say to me, 'Don't ever do that again.' She doesn't walk out with an attitude of a huff, because I think that I'm a pretty decent reader of people and their emotions in these romantic sexual things, whatever you want to call them."

He also calls Constand a liar.

"I know she's a liar because I was there," he says.

(Bill Cosby's mugshot. Photo: Getty Images)

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