(Image Source: ABC)
BY: STEVEN HSIEH
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The woman accusing former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn of rape has gone public with her story -- giving a name and face to the hotel maid.
Nafissatou Diallo granted exclusive interviews to ABC and Newsweek -- in which the 32-year-old immigrant gave detailed accounts of the alleged assault…
“I was like, I’m so sorry -- I turned my head. He come to me and grab my breasts. He said, ‘No! You don’t have to be sorry.’ I said stop, I don’t want to lose my job."
“I was watching in the news, and then they say he’s going to be the next president of France. And I said, ‘Oh my God! They are going to kill me!’ And I was crying. I said, ‘They are going to kill me! I am going to die!’”
She also refuted a NY Post story that called her a prostitute.
And Newsweek ran a cover story for the interview -- which reportedly lasted three hours in Diallo’s attorney’s office.
The writers characterize Diallo as suspicious at times -- but sincere at others.
“Occasionally as Diallo talked, she wept, and there were moments when the tears seemed forced. Almost all questions about her past in West Africa were met with vague responses… When Diallo reached the point of her alleged assault in the Sofitel, however, her account was vivid and compelling."
DSK’s lawyers responded immediately after learning Diallo would go public. CNN has part of their written statement…
“’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.’ Her own attorney shot back and said, you know, talk about a smear campaign. And that lawyer, Ken Thomson is accusing Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers as the ones who are not acting professionally."
A writer for the Atlantic Wire says it’s troubling that the Newsweek story…
“…barely touches on any possible strangeness with regard to the interview itself: that a woman is in a position of having to describe the events of her alleged sexual assault to a magazine and television network while her prosecution is deciding whether or not to go forward. It does not discuss what this says about power and money and the way that sex crimes are prosecuted."
And a correspondent for France 24 says Diallo -- with her credibility in question -- wants to up the pressure on prosecutors.
“This come at a very auspicious time…This seems like a salvo across the bow a week before the court hearing to try to get her story out in the media."
The complete ABC interview will air Tuesday on Nightline.
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Transcript by Newsy.
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