Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s accuser goes public as case nears collapse

Nafissatou Diallo threatens to launch civil action if case against former IMF chief falls apart On the morning of 14 May Nafissatou Diallo, an illiterate single mother from Guinea, entered suite 2806 of the Sofitel hotel in New York to clean the room. Hours later news of her alleged sexual assault by Dominique Strauss-Kahn was broadcast around the world. Diallo became “the maid”, one of the most mysterious and famous – or infamous – women in the world. Until this week the US and UK media have protected the identity of Diallo, a 32-year-old refugee and mother of a 15-year-old daughter. But now she has gone public, fighting to get her day in court as her case against the former French presidential hopeful appears close to collapse. “I want justice. I want him to go to jail,” she said in her first television interview. “I want him to know that there is some places you cannot use your money, you cannot use your power when you do something like this.” ABC will air Diallo’s full interview in the US on Tuesday. It follows an interview with Newsweek in which she describes in harrowing detail the alleged attack. Diallo has also described the aftermath of the attack. She said she had no idea who the then head of the International Monetary Fund was. “I was watching the news and they were saying he’s going to be the next president of France. And I say ‘oh my God’ and I was crying, they’re going to kill me, they’re going to kill me, I’m going to die.” She said that if this had happened in Guinea with “a powerful man like that” she would have been killed. Diallo’s case has been severely damaged after revelations that she lied to the authorities and a grand jury about her background. It was also revealed that she had fiddled her taxes and had a relationship with Amara Tarawally, a convicted drug dealer who used her bank account to deposit large sums of money. Strauss-Kahn is due back in court on 1 August and the Manhattan district attorney is believed to be considering dropping the case. Diallo has threatened to launch her own civil action against Strauss-Kahn. In the interviews Diallo is vague about her past life in Guinea, as well as the exact nature of her relationship with Tarawally, whom she called after the alleged incident in a conversation taped by the authorities. Diallo allegedly said: “Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing.” But Newsweek reports that the prosecutors did not have a translation of the full conversation, conducted in a dialect of Fulani, Diallo’s first language, and that subsequent investigations have cast doubt on that interpretation. She also appeared close to tears as she denied allegations made by the New York Post that she had worked as a prostitute. “I’m not. God is my witness, I’m telling the truth, from the heart. God knows that.” She is suing the paper. Strauss-Kahn’s defence had been strengthened by doubts about Diallo’s account of the attack. She reportedly went to clean another room after the incident. But according to Diallo’s account in the interviews, backed by information from the Sofitel’s electronic room keys, she visited another room only briefly, apparently to retrieve personal effects. Her lawyer Ken Thompson told ABC: “There’s no mystery, there’s no hiding the fact. This man attempted to rape her.” Strauss-Kahn’s legal team hit back at Diallo’s decision to go public. “Ms Diallo is the first accuser in history to conduct a media campaign to persuade a prosecutor to pursue charges against a person from whom she wants money,” said Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers William Taylor and Benjamin Brafman. “It is time for this unseemly circus to stop.” Stuart Slotnick, defence attorney and managing partner of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, called Diallo’s decision to go public “outrageous” and said it could damage the case. “She is violating all the rules. There aren’t many cases where the victim goes on the PR offensive; usually it’s the defendant.” The defence team would now be scrutinising the tapes for inconsistencies in her story and building an argument that she is out for financial gain, he said. “Her lawyer has already attacked the district attorney’s office. He isn’t doing this because he’s a women’s rights activist; he stands to make a lot of money.” Slotnick said he expected the district attorney’s office and Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers to subpoena ABC and Newsweek as they sift through the interviews for more evidence. Diallo’s decision to waive her anonymity was barely newsworthy in France, where the media have been naming her and giving personal details, including the name and age of her daughter, their address and even photographs, since her identity was first known. On Monday, French radio France-Info described her decision to give an interview as a “media offensive”. David Koubbi, the lawyer representing the French writer Tristane Banon, 32, who claims Strauss-Kahn sexually attacked her when she went to interview him for a book she was writing in 2003, met Diallo in New York last week. Banon has lodged a lawsuit for attempted rape against Strauss-Kahn in France, which is currently under preliminary investigation to see whether the case should go ahead. Koubbi has said he found Diallo credible. “She told me she had not lied. She said it forcefully and she repeated it.” Dominique Strauss-Kahn IMF New York United States France ABC Dominic Rushe Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 25, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.