Maid in IMF rape case under siege

Lawyer of maid alleges 'her world has been turned upside down' over Dominique Strauss-Kahn's alleged sex assault

Maid in IMF rape case under siege

Lawyer of maid alleges 'her world has been turned upside down' over Dominique Strauss-Kahn's alleged sex assault

The hotel maid allegedly sexually assaulted by the world's top banker is under "extraordinary" trauma and has had her "world turned upside down", her lawyer said.

The 32-year-old maid, who has not been named for legal reasons, accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, of attacking her in a room at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan on Saturday.

A sign is posted on the door next to the apartment allegedly belonging to the victim of the alleged sexual assault by Dominique Strauss-Kahn yesterday

Her lawyer, Jeff Shapiro, said the trauma the woman experienced was "extraordinary".

"This is a person who is a hardworking person who is a single mother and supporting a 15-year-old woman, and they live together, and she was grateful to have a job, for which she could provide food and shelter for the two of them," Shapiro said.

The maid has not been able to work since Saturday because of the enormous media attention, Shapiro said.
"Since this has occurred, she has not been able to go home.
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She can't go back to work, and she has no idea what the future is going to be ... Aside from what took place in the hotel room, the trauma that has taken place in her life is extraordinary."

Strauss-Kahn (62) is being held at Rikers Island where he is facing seven charges and could be jailed for up to 25 years.

Strauss-Kahn has been placed on suicide watch, law enforcement officials said. Shapiro said the maid was born in Guinea, west Africa, and had been granted asylum in the US.

A man who said he was the her brother said his she was a "good Muslim" who did not stop crying after the alleged incident.

"She did not stop crying. I told her, 'Don't hurt yourself. I wanted to get a lawyer for her. I've never heard her like that before.

She was completely devastated. She didn't know who Dominique Strauss-Kahn was at the time of the incident. I was the one who explained to her," he said adding that his identity and statements could not be independently verified.

'Hardworking maid'
Neighbours in the Bronx district where the alleged victim worked described her as quiet and hardworking.
A neighbour named Amanda said, "She is quiet. I never hear anything. I never even hear a TV or nothing so ... They are very quiet, they keep to themselves."

The building supervisor where the maid lived said he had known her since she moved in six months ago.
"She is nice, a nice girl, hardworking woman and I saw her pretty much every day when she goes away to do this job and it is a nice family, her and her daughter, they live together. "They're not secretive in their lives. They live like normal persons."

There is growing pressure on Strauss-Kahn to quit as the head of the IMF.

One unnamed IMF board member said it would be "ideal" if the Frenchman resigned. Another board member said that there was no consensus on the board as to whether it should remove Strauss-Kahn from the top job.

A spokesman for the IMF said the organisation had not been in contact with Strauss-Kahn since his arrest.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said yesterday that Strauss-Kahn was "obviously not in a position to run" the IMF.

Not only does Dominique Strauss-Kahn have to worry about a possible prison sentence, but now he also has reason to be concerned about coming into contact with the HIV/AIDs virus.
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The alleged victim of the IMF chief's sexual assault lives in a Bronx apartment rented exclusively for adults with HIV or AIDS.

No consensual Sex
The woman who says she was sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn will strongly deny to jurors any assertions that she willingly had sex with the IMF chief, her attorney said yesterday.