The woman alleged to have had sex for money with former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi when she was just 17 testified in court for the first time yesterday at a trial of three friends accused of pimping for him.
Karima El-Mahroug described "sensual" soirees in a discotheque at Berlusconi's villa in 2010 that invitees called the "bunga bunga", saying she was paid €2,000 (HK$20,000) or €3,000 a night.
But the woman, better known by her nickname Ruby the Heart Stealer, denied ever having sex with Berlusconi and said she had never received €5 million from him, as she told friends in phone calls that were tapped by police. "I never had sexual relations with him," she told the court in Milan, adding: "I've always refused to be a prostitute."
I never had sexual relations with him. I've always refused to be a prostitute
Confronted repeatedly by prosecutors with contradictions between what she told investigators and what she said in the telephone wiretaps, El-Mahroug said she "always talked rubbish" or "could not remember" particular conversations. Judge Annamaria Gatto at one point interrupted her saying: "This is a trial, not a television show."
