An Australian race car driver has faced a Swiss court charged with the rape of one of Michael Schumacher’s primary nurses at a home owned by the seven-time F1 champion’s family.
Joey Mawson, 30, is accused of attacking the woman in the villa in Gland, north of Geneva, following a cocktail party in November 2019.
Australian race car driver Joey Mawson. LAT Images
The Nyon court heard the nurse, who was one of Schumacher’s primary carers, had just finished a sixth consecutive work day caring for Schumacher when she joined the party and “consumed several drinks”.
She told the court she shortly after fell ill and could not stand upright, and was assisted to a bedroom by Mawson and a colleague. They helped her into bed fully dressed, but she later woke up naked in blood-stained sheets.
It’s alleged after helping the nurse to bed, Mawson later returned and assaulted her twice while she was unconscious.
“(The colleague) told me I was completely drunk and that they, along with Joey, had carried me upstairs,” she told the court.
“I asked him if I had gone to bed naked, because I had woken up naked. He said he had left the light on because he was worried.
“Because I had been unconscious, he had asked Joey to check on me. When I asked him if anything had happened, he said ‘no’.”
Evidence presented to the court indicated blood had been found on the bedding, and the nurse had suffered injuries consistent with restraint. She later underwent an extensive hospital examination.
Joey Mawson is accused of a raping the nurse in 2019. Zak Mauger/LAT Images
An apology message Mawson sent to the nurse after the incident was also read to the court.
“I’m so sorry from the bottom of my heart. I’m so sorry for the pain I’m causing you,” it read.
According to the Daily Mail UK, Mawson told the court he “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,” he said.
“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.”
Mawson claims the incident was consensual, and the pair had previously shared a kiss on a night out. The nurse rejected the claim.
The nurse was dismissed from the Schumacher medical team in October 2020.
None of the Schumachers were at the villa at the time.
The trial continues.