NEW YORK: The maid who accused former International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in a New York City hotel room is speaking out publicly for the first time. "Because of him they call me a prostitute, Nafissatou Diallo, 32, told Newsweek magazine on Monday.
I want him to go to jail. I want him to know there are some places you cannot use your power, you cannot use your money. Ms. Diallo, an illiterate Guinean immigrant, also gave an on-camera interview to ABC.
The Newsweek interview marks the first time the maid has told her story publicly, though many elements of it have been reported in various media.
She relays her story in graphic detail of how Strauss-Kahn, then the head of the International Monetary Fund, allegedly forced himself upon her when she entered his Sofitel hotel suite to clean it.
I dont want to lose my job, Diallo said. He said, You are not going to lose your job.I dont look at him. I was so afraid. I didn't expect anyone in the room. After the alleged incident, which she estimated took less than 15 minutes. Newsweek reports that phone records show Strauss-Kahn called his daughter nine minutes after Diallo entered the room, she began cleaning the room until a supervisor found her in a hallway, shaken, and alerted hotel security, which called police.
Ms. Diallo is apparently concerned that the Manhattan district attorney will drop four felony and three misdemeanor charges against Strauss-Kahn because of questions about her credibility that arose during the investigation. "I never want to be in public but I have no choice," Diallo told ABC News in an interview. "Now, I have to be in public. I have to, for myself. I have to tell the truth." Her photograph is on the cover of Newsweek and she appears strolling with her interviewer in a photograph distributed by ABC on Sunday.
Following Diallo's allegations and his arrest, Strauss-Kahn, a French politician and potential presidential candidate, stepped down as head of the IMF. He had been living under house arrest in a City town house.
On July 1, he was told he must still remain in the US but was freed from surveillance after prosecutors uncovered major discrepancies in Diallo's account. She made false claims on her application for asylum in 2003 and repeated the claims in interviews, attorneys from the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011
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