Roman Polanski's ex sister-in-law defends him

London (ANI): Director Roman Polanski's former sister-in-law Deborah Tate has publicly defended the director and said he is "a good guy" who was wrongly jailed for consensual sex. The internationally acclaimed director is currently under arrest in Zurich, Switzerland, on a US warrant for having unlawful intercourse with a teenaged girl.

The Daily Express quoted Deborah Tate, the sister of his murdered wife Sharon Tate as saying on America's Today Show: "Roman is a brilliant director, there is no disputing that. He's also a philanthropist. He helps many other people get a foothold in the business. He's quite a humanitarian He's a good guy. He's brilliant as well."

She went on to say that Polanski and the 13-year-old Samantha Gailey voluntarily had sex and there was no question of the girl being forced.

Tate said: "There was a deal made back in the '70s where Roman would undergo evaluation and spend four months in jail. He did that. He was evaluated not to be a paedophile and there's rape and then there's rape. It was determined that Roman did not forcibly have sex with this young woman, it was a consensual matter. I am a victim's advocate and I know the difference."

Tate also expressed her despair in the American justice system and suggested that the case was a waste of time and money. She said: "I do believe that our system is extremely broken on multiple levels. I think at the moment there's a lot of taxpayers' dollars that are spent on cases that do not need to be pursued, especially in the state of California. It's a very multi-million dollar broken system.

"I was under the impression (in 2005) that there was misconduct in the political genre itself and based on that, perhaps he could get a fair trial here. Since then, speaking to the District Attorney's office about this matter, I agree that Roman could not necessarily be dealt with in a fair manner in the United States. I think that this matter better be served in France."