The elder brother of the chambermaid expressed disbelief at the claim that she had made up the allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn and then lied to investigators. “It’s totally false,” the maid’s brother told Radio France Internationale.
Speaking from Conakry, the Guinean capital, he said: “We are the descendants of very pious Muslim scholars and we cannot let ourselves be carried away by easy money.”
The 32-year-old maid who claims to have been raped by Mr Strauss-Kahn grew up in Tchakulé, an isolated village in the mountains of northern Guinea, where she married her cousin at the age of about 16. The couple had a daughter and are reported to have moved to Sierra Leone. But when her husband died, she returned to Guinea and lived in Conakry, where she sold cosmetics.
A decade ago the woman obtained a visa for the United States, where her sister already lived. Once there, she was given political asylum. Her daughter followed two years later.
A man who knew the maid in Conakry, said: “She was friendly and nice with everyone. Her practice of the Muslim religion could not be contested.”
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The maid’s brother refused to countenance the possibility that she had changed since moving to New York. “My sister even refused to sell cigarettes when she was with me in Conakry when I opened a café.
“Let’s stop being distracted by untruthful arguments. We know that it’s a fight between David and Goliath, between the rich of the world and a poor young woman from a poor family in a poor country.”
Guinean journalists who have met members of the maid’s family also expressed surprise at the claim that she had been involved with money launderers and drug dealers.
Mokhtar Bah, the first reporter to travel to Tchakulé after Mr Strauss-Kahn’s arrest and the first person to inform villagers of what had happened, said: “When you see where this girl comes from, frankly it’s not possible. The education that she received would not allow her to do that. She’s naive. These are plots to sully her.”
The region where she was born is inhabited by the Fulani people, who live from herding goat, sheep and cattle.