Harvey Weinstein, the powerhouse film producer whose downfall over sexual misconduct ignited a global movement, has finally been brought to justice after a New York jury found him guilty of two of the five charges he faced.

The disgraced film producer faces a maximum of 25 years in prison after being found guilty of a criminal sex act in the first degree for forcing oral sex on a production assistant in 2006.

Weinstein was also convicted of rape in the third degree, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in jail.

The verdict, which took the jury of seven men and five women at the New York supreme court five days to reach, was a partial win for the prosecution. Weinstein escaped the two most serious charges of predatory sexual assault, plus one charge of rape in the first degree, which spared him the possibility of life sentence.

But Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr hailed the verdict as a win and a “good day” for sexual assault survivors, labelling Weinstein as a “vicious serial sexual predator”. Mr Vance said he was “not dissatisfied” with the verdict despite not convicting Weinstein on the most serious counts.

He said sex-crime cases are complicated but the trial outcome suggests accusers have greater hope that their allegations will be believed.

“Rape is rape and assault is assault, whether it’s committed by a stranger in a dark alley or a domestic partner in a working relationship,” Mr Vance told reporters following the verdict.

“Weinstein with his manipulation, his resources, his attorneys, his publicists and his spies did everything he could to silence the survivors. But they wouldn’t be silenced, spoke from their hearts, and were heard.”

Tarana Burke, the woman who created the #MeToo hashtag and helped found the movement, issued a statement praising the verdict and condemning “unjust laws”.

“This jury worked with an incredibly narrow and unjust set of laws governing sexual assault, and though he was not convicted on all counts, Harvey Weinstein will have to answer for his crimes,” her statement said.

Actress Rose McGowan, one of the earliest – and most prominent – of Weinstein’s accusers, said the movie mogul will finally know how it feels to have “power wrapped around his neck”.

Weinstein’s mouth was agape as the verdict was read and his defence attorney Donna Rotunno shook her head.

She said her client would appeal.

“He took it like a man. He knows that we will continue to fight for him and knows that this is not over,” she said.

During the lengthy trial, which concluded last Monday, six accusers testified, sometimes for hours, and cried often as they recounted in graphic detail what they said Weinstein did to them, described the appearance of his body and genitals, his intimidating bulk and trigger temper.

Two accusers quoted him saying shocking or outrageous things, testifying that he told them the way to get ahead in Hollywood is to trade sexual favours and cited A-list actresses he claimed had done the same.

Weinstein, 67, who was indicted in Manhattan in May 2018, was charged with five sex-crimes, including rape and predatory sexual assault, involving two women: Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haleyi, 42, who accused Weinstein of forcing oral sex on her in his New York apartment in July 2006, and actress Jessica Mann, 34, who accused Weinstein of raping her in a New York hotel room in March 2013. Weinstein has always denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Since media exposès were published in October 2017, he has been accused by more than 80 women of sexual misconduct, ranging from harassment to rape, over decades and in multiple jurisdictions around the world.

Besides the two accusers whose allegations were central to the case, Weinstein’s trial also featured testimony from four other accusers who testified that Weinstein sexually assaulted them in New York or California as far back as 1993 and as recently as 2013.

Three of these women, Dawn Dunning, 40, Tarale Wulff, 43, and Lauren Young, 30, were the so-called “Molineux witnesses”, whose accusations were either too old or out of jurisdiction to prosecute but were intended to help prosecutors prove that Weinstein was a serial predator with a recognisable pattern.

A fourth witness, Sopranos star Annabella Sciorra, 59, who testified that Weinstein raped her in her New York apartment in the winter of 1993- 94, was intended to help bolster the prosecution’s argument about the “predatory” nature of Weinstein’s behavior, enhancing his sentence if convicted.

The not-guilty verdict on those counts suggests the jury were not convinced by Ms Sciorra’s story, or that it was too old to believe beyond a reasonable doubt.

Women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, who represented three of the accusers at the trial, said she was “very happy” with the verdict.

“The jury took its time, they asked thoughtful questions, and we thank them for their verdict,” she told reporters outside the courthouse. “It was a carefully considered verdict which I believe is the just result. Harvey Weinstein will now have to face serious consequences for his criminal