No bail,IMF chief in jail till Friday

“The defendant restrained a hotel employee inside of his room,” said John McConnell,an assistant district attorney. “He sexually assaulted her and attemepted to forcibly rape her,” and when that failed,he forced her to perform oral sex.

Benjamin Brafman,one of Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers,argued “there is a very very defensible case and he should be entitled to bail.” He added his client was not trying to flee when he was arrested on an Air France plane that was about to take off from Kennedy International Airport on Saturday. But Judge Jackson ruled against Strauss-Kahn,and returned him to custody.

Strauss-Kahn’s appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court,which lasted only 26 minutes,capped a 43-hour odyssey through New York’s criminal system. He was arrested,held in a special cell in East Harlem,placed in a police lineup,and submitted to a forensic medical exam for possible evidence. He even was subjected to a ritual familiar to high-profile suspects: the so-called perp walk.

On Sunday,Strauss-Kahn’s accuser picked him out of a lineup at the Special Victims Unit where he was being held. Authorities said they had moved to obtain a court order granting them a search warrant to examine Strauss-Kahn for signs of injury that he might have suffered during a struggle or for traces of his accuser’s DNA. “Things like getting things from under the fingernails,” a law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity.

After identifying Strauss-Kahn about 4:30 pm,the woman,a maid at the Sofitel New York on West 44th Street left the Special Victims Unit in a police van. A blanket was covering her head.

The law enforcement officials said,after he left the hotel Saturday,Strauss-Kahn called it and said that his cellphone was missing. Detectives told hotel employees to tell him,falsely,that they had the telephone. According to the law enforcement official,Strauss-Kahn told them he was at Kennedy Airport about to get on a plane.

A guest at the hotel,Mortem Meier said the driver who ferried Strauss-Kahn to the airport was also his driver. “He said Strauss-Kahn was in a huge hurry,” Meier recalled. “He looked upset and stressed,the driver said.”JOHN ELIGON

& MOSI SECRET