Michael Schumacher nurse ‘sexually assaulted by Australian racing driver’, court told | F1 | Sport

A nurse who provided care for Michael Schumacher has claimed she was sexually assaulted by racing driver Joey Mawson and awoke in pain on blood-stained bedsheets. The Australian driver appeared in court on Tuesday in Nyon, Switzerland, over the alleged incident.

Mawson, who vehemently denies the accusations and has insisted the sex was consensual, is accused of sexually assaulting the nurse twice in a bedroom at Schumacher’s mansion in Gland, near Geneva, according to the Daily Mail. Throughout the trial, the court was told that Mawson spent the evening with several of Schumacher’s staff, during which the nurse drank alcohol.

The court heard claims that she became so inebriated she was unable to stand and was carried to her room, fully clothed, by colleagues.

When the nurse regained consciousness, she was naked and allegedly had no recollection of what had transpired. Prosecutors claim that the assault took place in that room.

The nurse informed the court that she sought reassurance from a fellow employee regarding the evening’s events and that they had sent Mawson to check on her.

Mawson told the court that he had spent the night at the nurse’s apartment and stayed there because he “didn’t want the employees to know about the intimate moment we had together”.

He added: “I hadn’t realised how drunk I actually was. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realised how drunk I had been. During the night, I had assumed she was less drunk than I realised the next morning.”

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Mawson went on to say: “She was not intoxicated, she was alert and conscious, she was flirting and she managed to get her leg on the pool table. You could see from her body language she was being flirtatious. I knocked on her room and she invited me in.”

The Australian informed the court that upon learning of the allegations levelled against him, he sent a text message to the nurse and offered his apologies. When quizzed by trial judge Patricia Cornaz as to his reasons, he replied: “Because I was overwhelmed by the accusations against me. It was the gentlemanly thing to do but I had done nothing wrong.”

In his closing argument, prosecutor Xavier Christe drew attention to inconsistencies between Mawson’s testimony and earlier statements he had provided to investigators. He also pointed to contradictions in Mawson’s account, in which he initially claimed condoms had been used during consensual intercourse before later stating no protection had been used.

Mawson is a close friend of Schumacher’s son, Mick, 26, and a driver who spent time in Formula 1 with Haas and as the Mercedes reserve driver. He regularly stayed with the Schumacher family between races to avoid lengthy return flights to Australia.

The nurse was asked to recount the events of that night and, breaking down in tears, told the court: “That night I had been working six days non stop. I was very tired and I had had nothing to eat.

“When I later asked Joey if anything had happened that night, he said ‘Yes’. I contacted my doctor and I was then referred to another doctor at the university hospital. I didn’t immediately tell the Schumacher family what had happened. I couldn’t remember anything from the night, I had to ask one of the other staff at the house.

“They said I was drunk and that Joey had carried me to my room, I woke up naked and when I first contacted Joey to ask him if anything had happened he said ‘No’ but then later said ‘Yes’.”

The complainant formed part of a medical team caring for Schumacher, the seven-time F1 champion, who has not been seen in public since a skiing accident in 2013.

The court was told that the woman had been dismissed from the Schumacher household some years prior and had subsequently lodged a grievance complaint. The nurse belonged to their “inner circle of trust”, according to her lawyer, Patrick Michod.

No members of the Schumacher family are implicated in the allegations. According to the indictment, none were present at the time of the events and were not listed as witnesses in the case at the Nyon District Court.