A witness due to appear in Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" sex trial has claimed that the former prime minister definitely paid for sex with the erotic dancer known as Ruby the Heart Stealer when she was under 18 – a serious offence under Italian law.Michelle Conceicao, a Brazilian model who attended the parties, also claimed that Mr Berlusconi telephoned her as recently as last month and asked her to lie about the encounter when she appears in court later this month.
"He repeated a phrase that he often uses – when there is a storm at sea, you don't throw anyone out of the boat. He doesn't want me to say the truth. He told me clearly 'Do the right thing'."
The starlet claimed that the sexual encounter between Mr Berlusconi and 'Ruby', whose real name is Karima El Mahroug, took place in the former prime minister's mansion near Milan on the night of April 25, 2010, at a party involving several young women.
At the time Mr Berlusconi was 73 and Miss El Mahroug was 17. It is illegal to buy sex from a woman in Italy if she is under the age of 18.
"I was there, I saw everything," Miss Conceicao told Espresso, an Italian news magazine. "He paid her 5,000 euros. He liked her because she was so young."