Dominique Strauss-Kahn lawyers reject hospital's 'rape' report

The leaking this week of Nafissatou Diallo's medical records, including "rape" as a cause of injury has unleashed a new storm of mutual recrimination between the legal teams of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the IMF, and the cleaning maid who claims he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan hotel suite in May.

The records, published this week by the Paris magazine, L'Express, relate to a first examination of Ms Diallo, 32, at a Manhattan hospital shortly after the alleged attack on 14 May.

According to the magazine, it concludes, "Cause of the injuries: assault. Rape."

Lawyers for Ms Diallo were swift to emphasise their importance in bolstering their client's claims and the case against Mr Strauss-Kahn. "The medical records are pretty powerful," Kenneth Thompson said. "Forensics don't lie."

The defence camp quickly responded: "The hospital report is based almost exclusively on the word of the complaining witness, who has been proven, time and again, not to be credible."