Michael Schumacher, the seven-time Formula One world champion who has remained out of the public eye since his 2013 ski accident, made headlines on June 2 due to testimony concerning an incident involving one of his former nurses.
The alleged victim, whose identity has been withheld, accused 26-year-old Australian racing driver Joey Mawson, a guest at Schumacher’s Gland, Geneva, residence on November 23, 2019, of taking advantage of her.
Highlights
- Michael Schumacher’s former nurse has claimed she was taken advantage of by Australian racing driver Joey Mawson at a 2019 party.
- Mawson denied the allegation, stating in court that the encounter between him and the nurse was consensual.
- The Schumacher family has not been named as parties in the case and is not directly involved in the court proceedings.
The nurse told the court that she woke up on a blood-stained bedsheet following the attack. Mawson, on the other hand, said the encounter was consensual.
She was fired a year later, in October 2020.
Michael Schumacher’s former nurse described a traumatic experience with Joey Mawson during testimony in court
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Records presented by both the prosecution and the defense confirmed that both individuals had been intoxicated on the night in question.
Mawson is a close friend of Schumacher’s son Mick, also 26.
He reportedly often stays with the Schumacher family between races to avoid long flights to Australia.
He is accused of taking advantage of the complainant twice in a bedroom at Schumacher’s Swiss residence.
Image credits: Zak Mauger/Formula Motorsport Limited/Getty Images
The alleged acts unfolded after the nurse became drunk on vodka-based cocktails while playing pool with Mawson.
She said that when she regained consciousness the next morning after having blacked out, she found herself unclothed and unable to recall the events of the previous night.
She noticed a soiled bedsheet and felt pain in her private parts, she tearfully recounted.
“I had worked for the family for six years, and that night I had been working six days non-stop. I was very tired, and I had nothing to eat,” she said.
“When I asked Joey [a fellow staff member] if anything had happened that night, he said ‘yes.’”
The nurse’s co-worker reportedly said he had left her in her bedroom fully clothed, but Mawson checked on her later that night. Based on that timeline, she believed he was the person who assaulted her.
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Mawson admitted to spending the night in her room, stating that he entered with her permission after she answered his knock.
Previously, at the pool table, he said she was suggestively affectionate toward him and even initiated a kiss.
“She was not intoxicated. She was alert and conscious. She was flirting, and she managed to get her leg on the pool table,” he said.
“You could see from her body language she was being flirtatious.”
Speaking about his condition that night, Mawson said he “hadn’t realized” the extent of his intoxication until the following morning.
The prosecution highlighted inconsistencies in Mawson’s testimony
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In his closing argument, prosecutor Xavier Christie questioned how Mawson had such a vivid memory of some events despite admitting he had consumed a heavy amount of liquor that night.
Mawson initially claimed that protection was used during his encounter with the nurse, but later changed his testimony, stating that it was not.
Christie also drew attention to the discrepancy, arguing that it undermined the credibility of Mawson’s account.
The nurse’s lawyer, Patrick Michod, also took aim at Mawson, arguing that the accused had offered “no words of regret” and “no acknowledgment of s**ual aggression.”
“I expected nothing less from him,” he said.
The case, reported in January 2022, first went to trial in October 2025, but Mawson did not appear in court until Tuesday.
During his testimony, he suggested that the nurse’s complaint stemmed from resentment over her firing by the Schumacher family in October 2020, noting that she waited nearly two years to accuse him of violating her.
The nurse’s attorney offered no response to Mawson’s allegation but strongly condemned her firing
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According to Patrick Michod, the nurse was part of the Schumacher family’s “inner circle of trust.”
“This was no ordinary job for her. She had an excellent reputation as a nurse, and despite where she was working, she never spoke about her patients to anyone — not even her family.
“During her time there, she was dealing daily with the result of a tragic accident, but besides her professional work, her other aim was to protect the family.
Her dismissal in 2020 was therefore “brutal,” Michod said, while questioning the reason behind it.
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“In all those years, there was never even the slightest accusation against her,” he told the court.
He went on to label his client’s termination as “a second act of violence.”
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Sabine Kehm, Schumacher’s longtime manager, testified in a separate December 2024 case that the nurse was dismissed due to performance issues.
“She was fired due to problems with the care performance. We had problems with her; we had problems with the way the care was provided,” she said.
The Schumacher family has yet to make a public statement on the matter.
While referenced in the proceedings, the family itself is not named in the case and will not appear in court.
"My heart goes out to the nurse," a netizen said
