An Australian race car driver has been exonerated of allegations that he raped Michael Schumacher’s nurse at the F1 icon’s residence, following a court decision citing a lack of sufficient evidence.
Joey Mawson, 30, faced accusations of sexually assaulting the nurse on two occasions on November 23, 2019, at Schumacher’s 57-year-old estate in Gland, near Geneva.
Mawson consistently refuted the claims, asserting that the encounter was consensual.
On Friday, the court concluded that there was not enough evidence to convict Mawson, allowing him to be released without any blemish on his record, as the judge highlighted.
Luc Vaney, representing Mawson, expressed to the Daily Mail, “He is free and cleared of all charges. He plans to return to Australia to focus on his future and resume his life.”
The nurse, who subsequently lost her job at Schumacher’s villa, commented, “I feel devastated. Initially, I was assaulted, then dismissed, and now the court has effectively branded me 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, my lawyer is very surprised.
‘I have been humiliated and I have been in and out of hospital these last six years. They let him go free and I’m sure it’s all because of the power the Schumacher family has.’
Mawson (pictured) was accused of raping the nurse twice in a bedroom at Michael Schumacher’s mansion in Gland, near Geneva, on November 23, 2019
Michael Schumacher (pictured) suffered catastrophic brain injuries during a skiing accident in the French Alps in 2013, and hasn’t been seen in public since
The woman, who apparently left the court crying, says she will now pursue the Schumacher family through an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal.
During the trial on Tuesday, a court in Nyon, Switzerland, heard allegations that the nurse woke up in pain on blood-stained bedsheets after being allegedly sexually assaulted by the racing driver.
Mawson had spent the evening with several of Schumacher’s employees, during which the nurse consumed a substantial amount of alcohol.
According to the indictment, she became so intoxicated that she was unable to stand, fell to the floor and was carried to her room, fully clothed, by staff.
Prosecutors alleged that the rape later took place in that room.
When the nurse woke up she was naked, and allegedly could not remember what had happened.
She then noticed blood on her bedsheets and felt pain in her vaginal and anal areas.
The nurse told the court that she asked a fellow employee what had happened, and he confirmed she had been carried up to her room and they had sent Mawson to check on her.
The employee seemed to think nothing had occurred, but when she asked Mawson, he allegedly confirmed something had happened.
The prosecution had demanded a four-year prison sentence.
The court gave the woman 30,000 Swiss francs (£28,000) in compensation for moral harm, money she can claim in further civil proceedings, according to Bild.
Mawson explained in court on Tuesday that he had spent the night at the nurse’s apartment, claiming he stayed there until dawn because he ‘didn’t want the employees to know about the intimate moment we had together’.
He added: ‘I hadn’t realised how drunk I actually was. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realised how drunk I had been.
‘During the night, I had assumed she was less drunk than I realised the next morning.’
In his testimony Mawson insisted that the nurse had been ‘flirtatious’ and had instigated kissing and that they had ‘touched each other’s genitals’.
He added: ‘She was not intoxicated, she was alert and conscious, she was flirting and she managed to get her leg on the pool table.
‘You could see from her body language she was being flirtatious. I knocked on her room and she invited me in.’
Mawson said that two videos, which were provided to the court but not shown, proved that the nurse was ‘being flirtatious’.
The videos were timed at 10.15pm and midnight on the evening the alleged offence took place.
He told the court that when he heard of the allegations against him, he had texted the nurse and apologised saying: ‘I’m sorry for any emotional damage and physical pain I caused you.’
Prosecution read out text messages that Mawson had sent the nurse, which also said: ‘I’m so sorry from the bottom of my heart.’
When asked by trial judge Patricia Cornaz why he had done so, he replied: ‘Because I was overwhelmed by the accusations against me. It was the gentlemanly thing to do but I had done nothing wrong.’
The alleged attack took place in Schumacher’s mansion (pictured) in Gland, Switzerland
The nurse, who has not been identified in the case, was caring for Schumacher, who suffered catastrophic brain injuries during a skiing accident in the French Alps in 2013, and hasn’t been seen in public since.
The seven-time F1 champion requires round-the-clock care.
Mawson is said to be a friend of Schumacher’s son, Mick Schumacher, 27, also a Formula 1 driver, with the pair competing against each other previously in their careers.
No members of the Schumacher family have been implicated in the rape trial.
In his closing argument prosecutor Xavier Christe highlighted differences in Mawson’s testimony from earlier statements he had given to investigators.
He questioned how Mawson had such a vivid memory of some events despite admitting large amounts alcohol and in particular vodka and whisky had been drunk the night of the attack.
Mr Christe also pointed out how Mawson said he couldn’t remember everything but had a clear recollection of helping the nurse back into bed after she had fallen out.
He also referred to discrepancies in Mawson’s testimony in which he initially said condoms had been used during consensual sex but then said no protection was used, with the nurse dabbing her eyes as he spoke.
The nurse’s lawyer Mr Michod, when given the floor, explained how the nurse had been hired by the Schumacher family because she was ‘a brilliant professional who was outstanding in her job’.
Mr Michod opened his closing argument saying: ‘No words of regret. No acknowledgement of sexual aggression. I expected nothing less from Mr Mawson.’
Offering an insight into her job as Schumacher’s carer, he said: ‘The eyes of the world have been on the house ever since the accident Michael Schumacher suffered.
‘They still are and 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 patient to anyone, not even her family, despite all the media attention
‘During her time there she was dealing on a daily basis with the result of a tragic accident but besides her professional work her other aim was to protect the family.
‘She never said anything about what happened inside the residence, and she simply wanted to protect the Schumacher family, but she suffered a sexual aggression which was truly unjust.’
Australian race car driver Mawson went on trial on Tuesday in Nyon, Switzerland, for the incident. Pictured: Mawson (left) seen outside court with one of his lawyers
The court heard allegations that the nurse who cared for Michael Schumacher woke up in pain on blood-stained bedsheets after being allegedly sexually assaulted by Mawson
Mawson is a close friend of Schumacher’s son, Mick Schumacher, 26 (pictured in 2016)
The trial was initially opened in October 2025, but Mawson failed to show up.
In his absence, the rape trial was formally opened, but then adjourned to ‘a date to be fixed’.
Mawson frequently stayed with the Schumacher family between races to avoid long return flights to Australia.
The court heard that in 2021, two years after the alleged attack, the woman had been fired from the Schumacher residence and had later started a grievance complaint.
Mawson said that when he heard of the allegations against him he had discussed them with Schumacher’s son Mick, who had also told him the nurse had been sacked.
He added: ‘Mick asked me if I had any videos and I told him about the ones from the party in 2019 I had and I gave them to him.’
Later the nurse was asked to recall what happened to her and breaking down in tears she told the court: ‘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 had nothing to eat.
‘When I later asked Joey if anything had happened that night, he said: “Yes.” I contacted my doctor and I was then referred to another doctor at the university hospital.
‘I didn’t immediately tell the Schumacher family what had happened. I couldn’t remember anything from the night, I had to ask one of the other staff at the house.
‘They said I was drunk and that Joey had carried me to my room, I woke up naked and when I first contacted Joey to ask him if anything had happened he said “No” but then later said “Yes”.’
After a break for lunch, Mawson was asked by the judge how his career was going and he replied: ‘It’s on hold.’
The Schumacher family are otherwise uninvolved in the case, and were not listed as witnesses in the case at the Nyon District Court.
Mawson has admitted a ‘consensual relationship’ with the woman, who is in her 30s, and he says he has the phone messages to prove it.
He also says the woman only complained about him two years after the alleged attack, after the Schumacher family had fired her from her job.
No complaint was received from the victim until January 2022, and the defendant co-operated during the initial stages of the investigation.
The nurse had worked for the Schumacher family for six years, and belonged to their ‘inner circle of trust’, according to her lawyer, Patrick Michod.
‘In all those years, there was never even the slightest accusation against her,’ he told the court during today’s trial.
Michod spoke of a ‘brutal dismissal’ in 2020 and questioned the official reason for termination.
He said the nurse experienced this dismissal ‘like a second act of violence’.
