Australian racing driver Joey Mawson has been cleared of all charges in connection with the alleged rape of a nurse who worked for the family of Michael Schumacher. The verdict was delivered on Friday, June 5, at Nyon District Court in Switzerland.
Mawson, a close friend of Schumacher's son Mick, had been accused of sexually assaulting the woman while she was unconscious at the Schumacher family mansion in 2019. The nurse alleged she was attacked twice following a cocktail party. Mawson consistently denied the allegations, maintaining the pair had consensual sex.
The court ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict him. Speaking to German outlet BILD, Mawson's lawyer said: "It's a just verdict; he can finally make plans for the future now that his name has been cleared."
The nurse, who left the courtroom in tears, later released a statement saying: "I feel terrible. First I was attacked, then I was sacked and now the court has basically said I am a liar. I have been through hell these last six years and the court decides not to convict, saying there was reasonable doubt, but no one can believe it."
During the trial, the court heard that the nurse had approached a colleague the day after the alleged incident to establish what had occurred. The colleague told her she had been carried to her room "without undressing her" and that Mawson had been sent to check on her. Evidence also revealed messages from Mawson to the nurse in which he wrote: "I'm so sorry from the bottom of my heart." When challenged about the messages, he responded: "It was the gentlemanly thing to do but I had done nothing wrong."
The nurse pursued criminal charges in 2022, at which point she informed the Schumacher family of the alleged assault. The family remained uninvolved in the proceedings, were not listed among witnesses, and were not implicated in any wrongdoing.
