Bill Cosby accused of three more sexual assaults as deposition looms

Sharon Van Ert, Pamela Abeyta and Lisa Christie add their voices to the more than 50 women who have come forward with similar allegations

Bill Cosby, 78, is scheduled to give a sworn deposition in a separate sexual assault lawsuit on 9 October. Photograph: Eric Thayer/Reuters

Three more women came forward on Wednesday to accuse the veteran comedian Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them decades ago, allegations that come a week before Cosby is scheduled to give a sworn deposition in a separate sexual assault lawsuit.

Sharon Van Ert, Pamela Abeyta and Lisa Christie appeared at a Los Angeles news conference and alleged that Cosby had assaulted them. They were teary-eyed as they gave their accounts.

The news conference with the celebrity attorney Gloria Allred came a week before a deposition that Cosby, 78, has been ordered to give in a lawsuit brought by another Allred client, a woman who accuses the comedian of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles when she was 15.

Allred said she was opposing Cosby’s motion for a protective order to restrict the public release of the deposition he is set to give on 9 October. “There should be transparency,” she said. A court is expected to decide the matter before his deposition.

Over 50 women have accused Bill of assaulting them sexually

Allred said while the statute of limitations prevented the three women at Wednesday’s news conference from taking legal action, they wanted to add their voices to the more than 50 women who have come forward with similar allegations.

Van Ert said she had met Cosby when she was a waitress at a southern California beachside jazz club in 1976. She said Cosby had offered to walk her to her car one night and got in with her. She said she had blacked out, woken up later alone and suspected Cosby of drugging and assaulting her.

Abeyta said that in 1975, when she was 25 and aspiring to appear in Playboy magazine, she had arranged to meet Cosby and was taken to a Las Vegas hotel and given her own bedroom in his penthouse suite. She said she believed her drink was drugged when she attended a show with Cosby and his friends. She awoke later in the comedian’s bed.

hristie said she had met Cosby when she was 18 and a model and aspiring actor. He cast her as an extra on The Cosby Show. She said had she viewed him as a father figure and maintained a platonic relationship with him for two years but then he attempted to coerce her into sleeping with him.

Cosby’s lawyers have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by the entertainer. A representative on Wednesday said Cosby had no comment on the latest allegations.