NEW YORK -- In a quiet, breaking voice, the hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault said Thursday that she has started speaking publicly because she needs to be strong for her teenage daughter -- and for women around the world.
Nafissatou Diallo, visibly nervous and her hands fidgeting, told a throng of reporters that she wanted to "let people know a lot of things they say about me is not true." She spoke at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn amid a score of supporters from the church and around the city.
"My daughter is crying but one day, she goes, 'Mom, please promise me you're gonna stop crying,'" the Guinean immigrant said in accented English.
"People call you bad names. People tell bad things about you because they don't know you. You have to remember this guy, he is a powerful man, everybody knows that. But for you, only the people that you work with, or our neighbors, or the people back home, knows you."
Strauss-Kahn has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted rape and other crimes.
He was freed from house arrest after prosecutors admitted publicly that they had uncovered information that cast doubt on Diallo's credibility.
The 62-year-old former head of the International Monetary Fund has not spoken publicly.
His attorneys say the case should be dropped, and they have decried the maid's going public.
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