Post date: Jul 25, 2011 4:55:37 PM
The former hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape is making headlines, as she goes public with her story. New Yorkers react to her account of events which led to charges against the former IMF chief.
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 25, 2011) REUTERS - Newspaper headlines in New York on Monday (July 25) were splashed with headlines and images of a former Sofitel hotel maid who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape.The story has been flung back into the spotlight as the maid decided to grant an interview to Newsweek and go public with her account of events.
In the interview published on Newsweek's website on Sunday (July 24), Nafissatou Diallo said that Strauss-Kahn appeared as a "crazy man" and attacked her when she entered his room on May 14.
Diallo also gave the news magazine, as well as ABC News, permission to identify her by name.
The magazine interview marks the first time the 32-year-old Guinean immigrant to the United States has publicly spoken to the media since she shocked the world with allegations that Strauss-Kahn emerged naked from the bathroom of his luxury suite on May 14 and forced her to perform oral sex.
Until now, Reuters had kept to the practice in the United States of protecting the identity of alleged rape victims.
ABC News on Sunday also announced it would broadcast an interview with Diallo on Monday morning.
On Monday morning, New Yorkers reacted to the headlines, saying Diallo's decision to speak out so late, was perhaps not wise. Many believed she should have come forward to the public with her full account of events, sooner.
"She spoke out after the fact, which doesn't quite make sense to me. There's a little inconsistency with the story. I'm not sure why she waited to speak out after the fact, so that makes me a little suspicious then of what really happened," said Heather Brook of New Jersey.
"I think she's just taking advantage of her position and she's trying to make money out of it, so it's understandable, but I'm not sure she's very honest about it," said Thomas Frantzeskakis, a Manhattan resident.
One of Diallo's attorneys, Douglas Wigdor, told Reuters she has come forward to let the world know she is not a "shakedown artist or a prostitute."
Strauss-Kahn, aged 62, has repeatedly denied all the charges against him. In a statement on Sunday, his lawyers called the interview a last-ditch effort by the maid and her lawyers to extract money from the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
Her credibility was thrown into question when Manhattan prosecutors revealed Diallo told authorities numerous lies, including fabricating a story about being gang-raped in Guinea in order to gain U.S. asylum. She also changed details of her story about what happened following the purported assault.