NEW YORK — The hotel housekeeper who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual violence faced the worldwide media Thursday, and with a shaky voice and broken English defended herself against accusations that she fabricated the story against the man once viewed as a contender for the French presidency.
“A lot of people are saying bad things about me, calling me names,” Nafissatou Diallo said at a mega-church in the heart of immigrant and black Brooklyn. “A lot of people are saying things about me that are not true.”
The ordeal had torn her apart and upset her teenage daughter, she said, wringing her hands under the lectern, adding, “But I promise her I’m going to be strong for you and every other woman in the world.”
Diallo’s entourage was formidable: two influential state senators, one of New York’s most powerful black ministers and a cadre of women’s rights advocates and religious leaders.
The appearance of Diallo — “Nafi” to those who know her — was unorthodox. Rape victims generally don’t call news conferences.
But supporters said the 32- year-old Guinean immigrant, who cannot read or write, had no choice but to go public.
Prosecutors have been considering dropping the case after discovering that she had lied about certain aspects of her life and that she had shady friends.
“When you are afraid and your back is against a wall, you don’t stay behind closed doors; you do what is necessary,” Lisa Jenkins, a professor of gender oppression at City University of New York and a minister from a Harlem church, told reporters. “We will stand behind Nafi Diallo until justice is done.”
Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, have maintained that nothing criminal occurred between their client and Diallo — that the sex was consensual. And Bill Taylor, one of the lawyers, said this week that by mounting a publicity campaign, Diallo had only reinforced the notion that she was an opportunist.
