UPDATED 10/16/2018 THE TESTIMONY OF DYLAN FARROW

THE TESTIMONY OF DYLAN FARROW

We are going to make a brief presentation and a brief analysis of what we know about the testimony of Dylan Farrow.
The first narration that Dylan made of the alleged abuses was made to her mother, Mia Farrow, on August 5, 1992. Mia Farrow left a record of what the girl said in her memoir:[i]

I  hung  up  the  phone  and  asked  Dylan,  who  was  sitting  at  the 
foot  of  my  bed,  "Did  Woody  have  his  face  in  your  lap  yesterday?" 
He  had  been  told  by  the  therapist  not  to  do  precisely  that  thing. 
"Yes,"  she  said. 
I  had  just  been  videotaping  the  baby,  so  I  grabbed  the  camera. 
Dylan  went  on  to  say  that  he  was  breathing  into  her,  into  her  legs. 
She  told  me  he  was holding  her  around  the  waist  and  that  when  she 
tried  to  get  up  he  "secretly  put  one  hand  here"—she  pointed— 
"and  touched  my  privates,  and  I  do  not  like  that  one  bit." 
She  told  me  that  Woody  had  taken  her  upstairs  into  the  attic, 
and  that  he  had  touched  her  private  parts  with  his  finger.  "Don't 
move,"  he  had  said  to  her.  "I  have  to  do  this.  If  you  stay  still,  we 
can  go  to  Paris.  Don't  tell." 
"He  was  kissing  me,"  Dylan  said.  "I  got  soaked  all  over  the 
whole  body  . . .  I had  to  do  what  he  said.  I'm  a  kid,  I have  to  do 
whatever  the  grown-ups  say  . . .  It  hurt,  it  hurt  when  he  pushed 
his  finger  in  . . .  he  said  the  only  way  for me  to  be  in  the  movie  is 
to  do  this.  I  don't  want  to  be  in  his  movie.  Do  I  have  to  be  in  his 
movie?  He  just  kept  poking  it  in  .  .  ." 

As can be seen, in this first narration sexual abuse begins in the TV room, where Allen is supposed to hold Dylan when she tries to stand up and touch her in their privates in a disguised way, and continue in the attic. Recall that noted in this regard Judge Wilk's Judgment:


Ms.  Farrow  testified  that  after  she  hung  up  the telephone,  she  asked  Dylan,  who  was  sitting  next  to  her, "whether  it  was  true  that  daddy  had  his  face  in  her  lap yesterday."  Ms. Farrow testified:
Dylan  said  yes.  And  then  she  said  that  she didn't  like  it  one bit, no, he was  breathing into her,  into her  legs,  she said.  And  that he  was  holding  her  around  the  waist  and  I said, why  didn't  you  get up  and she  said  she tried to but that he put his hands underneath her and touched her.  And  she showed me where
. . .  ".  Her behind.


Although the narration is very similar, the express reference to touching the private parts of the girl disappears and, in any case, this episode also disappears from Dylan's narrative. We know from the memories of Mia Farrow that not only were her nannies warned not to leave Allen alone with the children, but Casey Pascal's nanny was also. Obviously, if at any time she saw Dylan alone with Allen, she would tell her fellow nannies that they would go immediately to the TV room. Whatever the case may be, it must have been very clear from the description of events that day that there had been no abuse in the TV room. 

Before taking a final position on the remaining story of Dylan, it is necessary to remember that in the original story two episodes of abuse were narrated and that one of the two episodes had to be discarded and has disappeared from the narration and - apparently - from the memory of Dylan. One of the two narrated episodes had not occurred.

The two most extensive versions of the content of the recording, as far as I know, are those provided by Kristi Groteke and that of Mia Farrow herself, which has already been transcribed. I transcribe below that of Kristi Groteke:

It  is  chilling.  It  begins  with  Dylan  sitting on  Mia's  bed.  Mia, holding the  video camera,  is  not  in  the  picture,  but  we  hear her  asking  Dylan  questions  like.  "Where  did  Daddy  take you?"  And  Dylan  answers,  "He  took  me  to  the  attic."  Mia asks  several  more  questions  while  Dylan  sits  on  the  bed. Then  the  scene  shifts  to  the  lake.  Now  we  see  Dylan  lying in  one  of  the  lounge  chairs  by  the  water.  Mia  asks  her questions  like  "Where  did  he  touch  you?"  And  Dylan,  whose legs  are  slightly  open,  says,  "He  touched  me  here,  and  he touched  me  here,  and  he  touched  me  here."  Each  time  she says  this,  she  points  to  her  genital  areas.  During  this  scene, Dylan  seems  manic  and  distracted,  and  there  are  many  interruptions.  She  gets  up  from  her  chair  often.  Occasionally, too.  Tain  runs  into  the  picture  to  play,  blocking  Dylan  from view.  Finally,  one  distraction  too  many,  Mia  stops  the  tape. When  she  starts  it  again,  Dylan  tells  her  that  she  wishes that  Andre were  her daddy.  'Mommy,  it  hurts there,  it  hurts there."  she  says  and  holds  her  genital  area.  Mia  pauses,  she sounds  very  upset,  and  Dylan  says  something  about  Woody putting  his  finger  inside  her.  Dylan  says  again.  "It  hurts."  Toward  the  end  of the  tape  Dylan  repeats  her claim  that  Woody has  taken  her  to  the  attic  and  has  told  her  that  if she  doesn't move,  if  she  lies  very  still,  he  will  take  her  to  Paris  and  put her  in  his  next  movie.  Then  she  says,  a  serious  expression  on her  face.  "I  don't  want  to  be  in  the  movie,  and  I  don't  want to  go  to  Paris."  The  tape  closes  as  Dylan  looks  at  Mia  and asks,  "Mommy,  did  your  daddy  do  this  to  you?"

Without going into other considerations at the moment and always taking into account the obvious limitation that comes from having only partial impressions of the testimony and not the full testimony, there are two facts that draw attention if we put them in relation to other data: the first one is described as a painful experience and the second that no mention of a toy train appears anywhere.
It is striking that it is described as a painful experience, not because Dylan was examined in the pediatrician without being able to find even a hint of irritation in the genital area, but because Mia Farrow did not take Dylan to perform a physical examination. until August 9. According to Kristi Groteke:

So  in  Dr.  Kavirajan s  office  on  August  6, Dylan  repeated  her  original  accusation  of  abuse.  That  evening, said  Mia,  "when  I  put  her  in  the  bath,  she  wouldn't  sit  down. In  the  bath  she  said  her  vagina  hurt."

Pain in the area of ​​the vagina can indicate, for example, a urine infection; However, when Dylan goes to the pediatrician, she only narrates the alleged abuses and the pediatrician does not perform any exam, not because of the possible abuses, but simply because of the pain. Even without thinking that my daughter had been sexually abused, if she complains two days in a row of pain in her vagina to the point of not being able to sit in the bathtub, you can be sure that she is at the doctor that same day. If I think that my daughter has suffered sexual abuse and refers pain in the vagina, you can believe that the doctor examines it immediately. The delay in the physical examination is something absolutely amazing and extraordinary.

As for the fact that no toy train is mentioned, what is striking is the contrast with the narration of the abuses that Dylan does today.

Regarding Dylan's testimony to the pediatrician, as far as we know, she limited himself to saying that Allen had touched her, indicating the first time in the back and the second time the next day that in his private parts. Without more details.

The next news we have about Dylan's testimony comes from how little we know about Yale New-Haven Hospital Report. According to the report:

There were important inconsistencies between Dylan's statements recorded by his mother between days 5 and 6 and what Dylan herself narrated to the Hospital team, as well as among the various narrations made at the Hospital. These inconsistencies affected essential elements of the narrative. 

The doctor gave an example of the inconsistencies:

"Those were not minor inconsistencies," he said. "She told us initially that she hadn't been touched in the vaginal area, and she then told us that she had, then she told us that she hadn't."

The narration of the abuses was little spontaneous, excessively controlled and reflective and suggested that something rehearsed was being repeated. This lack of spontaneity is aggravated by some manifestations of the girl:

 At one point, he said she told him, "I like to cheat on my stories."

The description of the details surrounding the alleged abuse was unusual and inconsistent.
The newspapers of the time expand this information a little.

Dr. Leventhal said it was "very striking" that each time Dylan spoke of the abuse, she coupled it with "one, her father's relationship with Soon-Yi, and two, the fact that it was her poor mother, her poor mother," who had lost a career in Mr. Allen's films.

Definitely. In the first session Dylan said that she had not been touched in the genital area (that there had been no abuse); in the second that the genital area had been touched (which had been abused) and later she said again that Allen had not touched her genital area. On the other hand, beyond the fact that the testimony may seem spontaneous and learned, it is striking that the girl considered it appropriate to indicate "I like to cheat on my stories." and that on all the occasions in which he mentioned the abuse he would be paired with Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi and with the career of his poor, poor mother.

According to Connecticut Magacine, which has been reproduced in other sources

Dylan's most complete statement regarding abuses would be as follows:

“He put his finger in my vagina. He made me lay on the floor all ways, on my back, on my side, my front. He kissed me all over.”
This fragment of the story appears in quotation marks in the original articles and in all the occasions that have been reproduced. We find a more extensive explanation about its origin in:

http://cooljustice.blogspot.com.es/2018/01/dylan-farrow-profile-in-courage-i-want.html

For three consecutive weeks, she said Woody Allen violated her sexually. Among her statements to investigators: “He put his finger in my vagina. He made me lay on the floor all ways, on my back, on my side, my front. He kissed me all over … I didn’t like it. Daddy told me not to tell and he’d take me to Paris, but I did tell.” In several of the other sessions, Dylan Farrow mentioned a similar type of abuse. When she did not repeat the precise allegation in some of the sessions, the team reported this as an inconsistency. 

From what seems to be inferred that this story was made by Dylan on three occasions, that on two other occasions  she said that no abuse had occurred and that in four other interviews (there were nine in total) she recounted some type of different abuse.

The latest version we have of the abuses is that provided by Dylan herself, in 2.014 and recently in January of 2.018.

Let's start with the one in 2.014

when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me. He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we’d go to Paris and I’d be a star in his movies. I remember staring at that toy train, focusing on it as it traveled in its circle around the attic. To this day, I find it difficult to look at toy trains.

And now the one of 2.018

He instructed me to lay down on my stomach and play with my brother’s toy train that was set up, and he sat behind me in the doorway. And, as I played with the toy train, I was sexually assaulted.”
She continued: “As 7-year-old, I would say he touched my private parts. As a 32-year-old, he touched my labia and my vulva with his finger.”
Evidently these two narratives have many things in common. In the two Allen asks Dylan to lie on his stomach and play with the train while he allegedly put a finger in her vagina and whispers things. The second specifies that Allen was sitting. We will repeat the narration that Dylan made more consistently during 1992:

“He put his finger in my vagina. He made me lay on the floor all ways, on my back, on my side, my front. He kissed me all over … I didn’t like it. Daddy told me not to tell and he’d take me to Paris, but I did tell.”

If we did not know by Dylan herself - and by all the circumstances of the case, since Allen never saw Dylan again after August 4 - that there was only one supposed episode of sexual abuse, we would think that it is two different stories. Even three.

In two of them there is no train and in one Allen forces the girl to lie down in different positions and in the other there is no mention of lying down; in the third one there is a train with which to play and which focuses Dylan's attention, and she remains the whole episode lying on her stomach and watching the train. Regarding the first narrations, the pain disappeared and the fact that Allen kissed her all over her body and left her soaked has disappeared too. Even more significant: the original complaint clearly and expressly indicated that Allen had inserted his finger into Dylan's vagina, however in 2.018 there is no introduction of the finger into the vagina and the abuses are made with touching the vulva and the lips. They are totally different behaviors, both from the legal and the material point of view.

It is not necessary to resort to the report of Yale New Haven to be able to affirm that the narration of abuses of Dylan undergoes important variations between a narration and has evolved throughout the time, omitting some details and incorporating new details, several of them incompatible among themselves.


He was kissing me…I got soaked all over the whole body…I had to do what he said.  I’m a kid, I have to do whatever the grown-ups say…It hurt, it hurt when he pushed his finger in [my vagina]…He just kept poking it in…” [H]e said the only way for me to be in the movie is to do this.

“He put his finger in my vagina. He made me lay on the floor all ways, on my back, on my side, my front. He kissed me all over … I didn’t like it. Daddy told me not to tell and he’d take me to Paris, but I did tell.”

He instructed me to lay down on my stomach and play with my brother’s toy train that was set up, and he sat behind me in the doorway. And, as I played with the toy train, I was sexually assaulted.” (…) “…he touched my labia and my vulva with his finger”


Another difference: the underwear

Dylan's narrative  never included in 1.992 a part in which Allen removed her underwear. According to Kristi Groteke, Dylan never explained what happened to the underwear. There is no mention of her in relation to the alleged episode of abuse or in the tape that Mia Farrow records, nor in the Yale New Haven sessions, nor in the sessions with the police. Obviously, if the absence of underwear has nothing to do with the alleged abuse according to Dylan's original narrative, then the absence of underwear can not be used to pretend to "validate" that the abuses existed. The absence of underwear - and the testimony of the French teacher about it - is simply irrelevant and neither confirms nor validates anything. It should be noted that Dylan was specifically asked for her underwear in 1992. Mia Farrow asked her expressly if her father had removed her underwear.

In fact, the absence of underwear which may indicate is that Dylan "slipped" to get rid of her without any of the adults noticed. Perhaps she had been stained and embarrassed, or perhaps she thought her mother was going to scold her if she looked dirty. The fact is that it seems that Dylan was able to get rid of her without any of her caregivers (or anyone) noticing. For a few minutes he disappeared to do whatever he wanted to get rid of his panties in such a way that they never met again. At what point would Dylan be free to go where he wanted and elude the vigilance of all elders? It seems that the ideal moment would be when Allen went to the w.c. In this way, it is perfectly possible that the two "disappeared" for a few minutes but were not together. In any of the cases, several of the minutes during which two days later it was concluded that Dylan could not be located, she had to dedicate it to what-he-wants-to-do with the underwear.

However, in 2.017 Dylan Farrow pens an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times: Why has the #MeToo revolution spared Woody Allen?. There she said:

Three eyewitnesses substantiated my account, including a babysitter who saw Allen with his head buried in my lap after he had taken off my underwear.

In 1992 and 1993 Dylan never explained that it had been her underwear, unfortunately for the credibility of the facts she relates, the new information she provides in 2017 fits very complicated with the facts we know. We know that Judge Wilk ruled out that abuses could have occurred in the TV Room and we also know why: because in that room there were at least five children, possibly six if we take into account Moses, and the nannies could enter suddenly and without  warning al any time. The same reasons that rule out sexual abuse in the TV Room rule out that Allen removed Dylan underwear at that time and place. 

The new information provided by Dylan in 2017 seems clearly erroneous and only casts more doubts about the authenticity of her story or about the memory she has of it, or about both. To let the reader choose which is the consequence that seems most plausible, I leave without changing the wording corresponding to the analysis of the facts based on the original story of Dylan.

The evolution of the testimony of Dylan Farrow . In the last column, in red, the parts of the testimony that have changed or are completely new compared to the initial one.

Initial Statement to Mia Farrow. Recorded on video
Narration of the custody trial.
Statement in YNH, according to various sources, especially Connecticut Magazine.
Declarations from 2.014
The abuse begins in the TV Room, where Dylan claims that Woody Allen touched her private parts
The reference to the fact that Woody Allen touched her private parts in the TV Room disappears
There is no reference
There is no mention of touching in the TV Room. The episode has disappeared from the story.
Dylan says that she took off her underwear because it was wet, although she is asked expressly if her father asked for it.
-
There is no mention
Dylan says her father took off her underwear in the TV Room.
She says that Woody Allen kissed her
-
She says that Woody Allen kissed her
Dylan does not describe Woody Allen kissing her.
Woody Allen talked to her
-
-
Woody Allen talked to her
She says that her whole body was soaked.
-
There is no mention of being soaked.
Dylan does not describe or mention at any time having been soaked.
She does not say anything about lying down
-
She says that Woody Allen forced her to lie down and change her position, face up, face down, sideways ...
She says that Woody Allen told her to lie face down to play with an electric train and she stayed in that position playing with the train
She said that Woody Allen insert his finger into her vagina and kept  poking  it  in
-
She said that Woody Allen insert his finger into her vagina
She said that Woody Allen did not insert his finger into her vagina. That he  did touch her lips and vulva.
Dylan says it hurt when Woody Allen kept  poking  his finger  in her vagina.
-
She says nothing of pain
She does not describe pain
There is no mention that she was playing with an electric train.
-
There is no mention that she was playing with an electric train.
Dylan says she was playing with an electric train and that she focused on it throughout the abuse.





[i] "Whar Falls Away", Mia Farrow, Doubleday 1997.

(ii)This is what Monica Thompson declared in her testimony as a witness before the court (Newsday Feb 2, 1993 "Nanny Blasts Mia"):




Although it is even more relevant that this specific question appears in the transcript of the tape and was identified as inadequate by the expert Richard Marcus in the trial (Newsday, Apr 7, 1993, "Abuse or Hug? Molest debate at Woody-Mia trial."




LA CONDUCTA INADECUADA DE WOODY ALLEN EN LA SENTENCIA DE WILK Y APELACION


WHAT EVIDENCE OF THE JUDGMENT OF CUSTODY REFERRED FRAN MACO BY SAYING THAT IT HAD NO PROBATORY FORCE?

A FIRST APPROACH TO JUDGE WILK'S DECISION THAT DOESN´T LOOK LIKE WHAT YOU USUALLY READ

THE SUPPOSED AND IMPROBABLE REFUTATION THAT JESSICA WINTER MAKES OF BOB WEIDE

If you want to know more about what happened on August 4, 1993

ITHE DECISION OF THE PROSECUTOR OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT, FRAN MACO, NOT TO INITIATE A PENAL PROCEDURE AGAINST ALLEN FOR THE ALLEGED ABUSES TO DYLAN FARROW



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