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New York - Test results returned on Monday found that DNA
from former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn matched
material on the work clothes of a Manhattan hotel maid who says he attacked
her, two people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press.
The two people would not describe the material found on the
shirt, but said DNA matched a sample from Strauss-Kahn, who submitted to
testing after his arrest more than a week ago. He denies the charges.
The two people said additional testing was being performed
on other items. They were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter and
spoke on condition of anonymity.
During their investigation, authorities cut out a piece of
carpet and swabbed sinks and other surfaces in his hotel room. Investigators
told the AP they believed the carpet in the hotel room may contain
Strauss-Kahn's semen, spat out after an episode of forced oral sex by the maid.
The forensic evidence is the first to link Strauss-Kahn to
the woman.
Consensual
Strauss-Kahn's attorney Benjamin Brafman declined to comment
on Monday. At a court hearing last week, he told a judge that forensic evidence
developed in the investigation "will not be consistent with a forcible
encounter" - leading to speculation that Strauss-Kahn's defence would
argue that it was consensual.
NYPD spokesperson Paul J Browne and the Manhattan District
Attorney's office would not comment.
The one-time French presidential contender has been charged
with a criminal sex act, attempted rape and sexual abuse and is free on $1m
bail, under house arrest at a lower Manhattan apartment.
He has been accused of attacking the 32-year-old West
African immigrant on May 14 in his luxury suite at the Sofitel hotel near
Manhattan's Times Square. His lawyers say he is innocent.
Staff at the Sofitel told authorities that the 62-year-old
had made passes at them the day before the alleged attack, including flirting
with a clerk and calling another employee to ask her up to his room, according
to a third person with direct knowledge of investigators' interviews with
staff.
Strauss-Kahn had flirted with one female staff member who
accompanied him to his suite to make sure his accommodations were satisfactory
after he checked in on May 13, the person said.
Later, he phoned the desk clerk who had checked him in,
asking her if she would like to get together with him when she got off duty,
the person said. The desk clerk refused, saying she was not allowed to
socialise with the VIP guest, the person said.
Temporary location
That person also wasn't authorised to speak publicly and
spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Monday, lawyers for Strauss-Kahn continued to search for
new accommodations for their client as he awaits trial. His bail agreement hit
a snag late last week after tenants at the Upper East Side apartment building
chosen for his house arrest refused to allow him, citing unwanted media
attention.
Strauss-Kahn is currently housed at a temporary location
under watch by armed guards with Stroz Friedberg, the same company that guarded
disgraced financier Bernard Madoff.
It was not clear when he would be moved. French and US media
have been staking out the building where Strauss-Kahn spent the weekend after
he was released from his Rikers Island jail cell.
He resigned last Wednesday from the IMF.
His attorneys have described Strauss-Kahn as a loving father
and family man. They say his actions after the alleged attack are not those of
a guilty man eager for a quick escape.
He left the hotel, had lunch and then phoned later to ask if
he'd left anything behind. When he was told by hotel staff they had his
cellphone, he told them exactly where he was: At John F Kennedy International
Airport on a flight bound for Paris. Authorities pulled him from the jetliner.
