Strauss-Kahn's defence team to target maid : Report

New York, May 31: The defence team of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is likely to question the credibility of a hotel maid, who has accused him of sexual assault.

Strauss-Kahn has already indicated that he plans a consensual-sex defence, the Wall Street Journal said.

This tactic requires undermining the credibility of the maid, a 32-year-old immigrant from Guinea, according to experts.

"There's not a lot of rocket science to this. They're going to be looking to discredit her," John Cutter, vice president of the investigative firm Beau Dietl & Associates and a retired New York Police told WSJ.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly forced the maid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan to perform oral sex.

He was taken into custody a few minutes before his Air France flight departed for Paris on May 15.

Defence attorneys for Dominique Strauss-Kahn asserted in a letter last week to the Manhattan District Attorney's office that "were we intent on improperly feeding the media frenzy, we could release substantial information that in our view would seriously undermine the quality of the prosecution and also gravely undermine the credibility of the complainant in this case."

The New York Post reported that Strauss-Kahn's defence team employed Guidepost Solutions, a private investigations firm run by ex-federal prosecutors, to cross-check every statement in his accuser's allegation.

PTI