THE racing driver accused of raping one of Michael Schumacher’s nurses inside the F1 legend’s home is said to have fled to Australia – but faces extradition.
The unnamed driver allegedly raped the nurse while staying at the family’s house in Gland, prosecutors in Switzerland said.
The accused is said to have left Switzerland in 2024 – and has been in Australia ever since.
Australia has an extradition treaty with Switzerland, which may allow Swiss authorities to bring back the alleged rapist.
The allegations date back to 2019, with a criminal complaint filed in 2022, and have come to light ahead of a trial scheduled for this week, as reported by 24heures.
It has since emerged that the driver was staying on the estate and allegedly raped one of the nurses – taking care of stricken Schumacher – in an upstairs bedroom after a night of boozing on vodka cocktails.
At the time, the professional driver was reportedly good friends with Schumacher’s son, Mick, who is now 26 and himself a racing driver.
Prosecutors claim that, on the night of November 23, 2019, the nurse and the defendant crossed paths in the billiard room of the sprawling Lake Geneva mansion.
The driver claims they had kissed once before at a club in Geneva, as revealed in court documents.
However, the nurse disputes that there was a close relationship between the pair.
On that evening, the nurse headed to join two of her colleagues and the driver playing pool following a tiring shift.
A physiotherapist in the group helped the defendant to carry her upstairs to her bedroom.
There they laid the nurse down “without undressing her” and left her asleep with the lights on, court documents say.
It is shortly afterwards that the driver returned to the room and allegedly raped her.
He is accused of twice having sex with the nurse whilst she was in an unconscious state, according to the indictment.
Neither of the other two medics who were there that evening says they saw or heard anything.
The victim filed a criminal complaint two years later, in January 2022, after reportedly being fired by the Schumacher family.
The Sun has contacted the Schumacher family’s publicist for comment.
Seven-time F1 world champion Schumacher, 56, has remained shielded from public view since sustaining a catastrophic brain trauma in the French Alps back in December 2013.
His wife Corinna has been managing his treatment.
Schumacher requires round-the-clock care at his home on the shores of Lake Geneva.
There was a “positive” update on his health from a Formula One insider just yesterday.
The motorsport journalist says there are a number of “good signs” surrounding the F1 icon’s latest condition 11 years on from his tragic skiing accident.
Stéfan L’Hermitt of L’Equipe, believes there may have been positive progress made by Schumacher across the past 12 months.
He told Le Grand Recit: “I would say he’s not doing well, but he might be getting better because fundamentally we don’t know anything.
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“This year, he signed a helmet for a charity event.
“Was it his wife who held his hand? We don’t know exactly, but it’s the first time we’ve had a kind of positive sign, almost a sign of life.”
What happened to Michael Schumacher?
MICHAEL Schumacher’s life was hanging by a thread 12 years ago as medics tried desperately to keep him alive after a tragic skiing crash that left him with horrific brain injuries.
The F1 legend was given the best possible treatment as he was put into a medically induced coma, had his body temperature lowered and underwent hours of tricky operations on his brain.
Back in 2013, the retired seven-time world champion, and his then 14-year-old son set off on the Combe de Saulire ski run in the exclusive French resort of Meribel.
Footage from his helmet camera revealed he was not travelling at excessive speed when his skis struck a rock hidden beneath the snow.
He catapulted forward 11.5ft and crashed into a boulder head first that split his helmet into two and left him needing to be airlifted to hospital for two life-saving operations.
At one point his family were told to brace themselves for the worst case scenario as the situation was much worse than originally believed.
At the time, medics said Schumacher was likely to stay in an induced coma for at least 48 hours as his body and mind recovered.
But the coma ended up lasting 250 days – more than eight months.
After he woke up in June 2014, he was discharged from hospital and sent to his home in Lake Geneva to get further treatment.
Since then his wife Corinna and his inner circle of friends have expertly avoided almost anything leaking out about his health status.
Only small amounts of information have been released including reports that Schumacher was in a wheelchair but can react to things around him.
In 2019, it was said that Schumacher was set to undergo breakthrough stem cell therapy in a bid to regenerate and rebuild his nervous system.
Renowned France cardiologist Dr Philippe Menasche, who had operated on him previously, was set to carry out the treatment that would see cells from his heart go to his brain.
Following the treatment at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, he was said to be “conscious”, although few other details were given about his state.
