Sharon Van Ert, Pamela Abeyta and Lisa Christie appeared at a Los Angeles news conference organised by their lawyer Gloria Allred on Wednesday (30Sep15) and alleged Cosby assaulted them.

Teary-eyed Van Ert revealed she met Cosby when she was a waitress in 1976. Like many of the 50-plus women who have accused the comic of decades-old inappropriate behaviour in the past year, she claimed she blacked out during a ride home with the funnyman and woke up alone hours later. She suspected Cosby had drugged and raped her.

Abeyta claimed her drink was spiked with drugs when she attended a Las Vegas show with Cosby. She alleges she awoke hours later in the comedian's bed.

And Christie, a former model, revealed she was 18 when Cosby cast her as an extra on The Cosby Show.

She told the gathered media she spent two years in his company but fell out with him when he allegedly attempted to coerce her into sleeping with him.

The press conference in Los Angeles comes a week before the comedian must give a deposition in a lawsuit brought by another of Allred's clients, who has accused the comic of sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles when she was 15 years old.