The hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former chief of the International Monetary Fund, of sexual assault has lied to investigators numerous times about her past and has some dodgy connections to a drug dealer, according to a bombshell New York Times story published last night. The woman’s inconsistencies about her personal life — like telling investigators that she sought asylum in the United States because she was a victim of female genital mutilation in Guinea, which is not what it says in her asylum application — should in no way detract from her accusation that Strauss-Kahn assaulted her in his New York City hotel room and forced her perform oral sex on him. Initial reports of the hotel maid’s behavior after she was allegedly attacked — she was found crying in the hallway by another employee, she vomited, etc. — are common-sense consistent with how someone may act after a sexual assault. But it is all too easy to see how his defense attorneys will spin this: if the alleged victim is not credible about other things, who’s to say she isn’t lying now?
Source: Los Angeles Times
According to The New York Times, the woman told investigators that she sought asylum in the U.S. because she was raped and victimized by female genital mutilation while in Guinea. Neither of those claims, however, are reflected in her asylum application.
Investigators are also concerned about her possible links to drug dealing and/or money laundering, the Times reports. Within a day of her alleged attack, she made a phone call to a man in prison for possession of 400 lbs. of marijuana. This man, whom she called her fiancé, and other individuals, whom she said were his friends, have made deposits into the women’s bank account nearing $100,000. The Times says the woman told investigators she doesn’t know where the money is coming from. She also told investigators she only had one phone, but in actuality, allegedly pays hundreds of dollars in phone bills every month to five different companies.
Source: New York Magazine
Let’s be clear: Just because a person may have a history of drug dealing or money laundering and immigration violations does not mean she was not raped. And despite inconsistencies regarding her asylum application and possibly regarding this fiancé/friend of hers, there is nothing to indicate in this New York Times article that she has lied at all about the alleged sexual assault in question.
I’m sure the defense is thrilled about this. If they don’t go with their initial plan to paint the “sex” as consensual or allege the hotel maid was a prostitute or a money-grubber, they’ll surely attack her credibility. Prepare yourselves, ladies, to watch this case become another hot, victim-blaming mess.
[NY Times] [Guardian UK]Original by: Jessica Wakeman
