The New York hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her broke her silence after more than two months of anonymity, dpa reported.
In long interviews with Newsweek magazine and the ABC television network, Nafissatou Diallo went on the offensive to tell her version of the story as her credibility has come into question.
He was like "a crazy man to me," the 32-year-old told Newsweek in an article published online Sunday.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested on sexual assault charges stemming from the May incident in a Manhattan hotel and was initially held under house arrest, but he was released on bail after questions about the maid arose. His defence attorneys have urged prosecutors to drop the charges after it was revealed that Diallo had lied several times and sought to gain money from the case.
Diallo described to the news magazine in graphic detail her encounter with Strauss-Kahn and said when she found out who he was, she was terrified.
"I watched Channel 7, and they say this is [the] guy - I don't know - and he is going to be the next president of France," she was quoted as saying. "And I think they are going to kill me."
She first hid in the hallway of the hotel after the incident, which she said occurred when she went to Strauss-Kahn's room to clean it, and then told her supervisor, she said.
Strauss-Kahn was pulled off a plane bound for France to be questioned and arrested on sexual assault charges, but the case against him has appeared to crumble in recent weeks.
Still, she insisted her account of the incident is accurate.
"Because of him, they call me a prostitute," she said. "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."
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have said the Guinean immigrant sought to use a consensual sexual encounter to get money from him. The next court hearing in the case is set for August 1.