A pre-trial hearing in the case of felony indecent assault and battery filed against actor Kevin Spacey took an unexpected turn Monday when the accuser invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege to remain silent on the witness stand.

Heather Unruh, a 51-year-old journalist and former TV anchorwoman from the Boston area, accused Spacey in 2017 of assaulting her son, William Little, in the previous year, claiming that the actor plied her then-18-year-old son with alcohol and molested him at a Nantucket resort bar where the teen worked as a busboy.