Director Paul Haggis held at Italian hotel ahead of hearing in sex assault case

Director Paul Haggis (Yui Mok/PA)

Film director Paul Haggis is being held in a hotel room in southern Italy pending a court hearing while prosecutors press their investigation of a woman’s allegations he had sex with her without her consent over the course of two days.

Prosecutors in Brindisi, a port town in Puglia, the region that forms the “heel” of south-eastern Italy, announced on Sunday that police had detained the 69-year-old Canadian-born director, screenwriter and producer for investigation of alleged aggravated sexual violence and aggravated personal injuries.