John Patrick Shanley sued over violent sexual relationship with indie actress

Allegations include involuntary choking of 26-year-old lover who is suing

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John Patrick Shanley, the Oscar-winning writer of Moonstruck, has been accused of conducting a sadomasochistic relationship with a young woman that took a frighteningly violent turn. The Bronx-born Shanley had Irish-born parents.

According to a report in the New York Post, a young indie-film actress has filed a lawsuit this week claiming that Shanley choked her to within inches of her life.

Amanda Jencsik, 26, claims in her $5 million suit that she had a four-month affair with the Irish American writer Shanley, 61, and that during it he would occasionally slap or 'place his hands over her mouth and neck to restrain her' during sexual intercourse at his East 18 Street apartment.

Shanley, who also wrote the Tony-winning play “Doubt," allegedly 'looped his belt around her neck during sex and pulled the belt,' preventing her from breathing, the suit claims.

Jencsik says she believed Shanley 'was trying to kill her while having this type of intercourse,' alleging that numerous times throughout their encounters Shanley asked: 'Do you feel like I’m raping you?'

Now the young woman, who waited over a year before she took any action, claims she suffered severe psychological distress and physical injuries due to the relationship, however she did not call the police 'due to her mental state.'

Jencsik 's lawyer, Sal Strazzullo, told the Post that his client was an emotional wreck who spent months in the abusive relationship because Shanley had a 'Svengali-like effect on her.'

Contacted by phone by the Post yesterday, Shanley said he was unaware of the lawsuit.

Jencsik says the relationship began in October 2009, when the young actress claims she was contacted by Shanley on Facebook. The pair corresponded for many months, but did not meet up until they had a dinner date in January 2010, Jencsik says.

After a second date the same month, Jencsik alleges, Shanley invited her up to his apartment, where they had sex. The next day he allegedly sent her a text message asking: 'Do you want to go out again and do everything we did last time?' and she agreed to meet him at his apartment, the suit says. When she arrived he was not home.

He arrived later visibly drunk Jencsik claims, and when they got to his apartment he 'forcibly turned her over onto her stomach' and sodomized her, she alleges. The relationship continued until April 2010, when Shanley allegedly sodomized Jencsik again whilst wrapping 'his belt around her neck.'

Jencsik claims she was in pain after these incidents, but was afraid to seek medical help. A year after the affair ended, Jencsik says she sought medical attention and was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction, according to the suit.

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