Los Angeles, Oct 30: Oscar-nominated movie actress Winona Ryder felt reality bite as she spent her 31st birthday on trial for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars of goods from a plush store. The pixyish Hollywood star sat in court in the Los Angeles area of Beverly Hills watching herself perform on screen -- but this time the movie was an in-store surveillance tape that prosecutors say records her shoplifting spree. The tape, considered pivotal to both the prosecution and defence cases, came on the second full day of Ryder's much-anticipated trial for stealing nearly 6,000 dollars of designer goods from a top department store. While the video did not show Ryder cutting off security tags from goods, as the prosecution has alleged, she was seen being detained by guards who took a number of items from her. Ryder arrived in court wearing a sombre black outfit a day after the jury heard that she allegedly told detectives who arrested her that her director had told her to steal the 20 items to train for a film role as a shoplifter.



Kenneth Evans, the Chief Security Officer for Saks Fifth Avenue told the court Monday that the contrite star of ‘Reality Bites’ apologized for what had happened and blamed it on a movie-maker.



"I'm sorry for what I did," Evans quoted Ryder as saying. "My director directed me to shoplift for a role," she is said to have added.



The actress, who is free on 20,000 dollars bail, has denied charges of grand theft, commercial burglary and vandalism after she was allegedly spotted by a guard cutting security tags off goods in a changing room.


Bureau Report