New York Times Gets 'Dirt' on Strauss-Kahn Accuser

After a thorough investigation, the New York Times has uncovered the "dirt" on the hotel maid who has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape: She's a quiet, devout, dutiful mom who was born in a mud hut in Guinea. Strauss-Kahn's attorneys have said for weeks that they have explosive, perhaps salacious, information that will "gravely undermine the credibility" of their client's accuser. But here's what the Times learned: She studied the Koran as a child, she was married as a teen to a cousin who died shortly after, she's a legal US immigrant who worked her way up from a tiny Bronx restaurant to a tony Manhattan hotel, she likes to watch Nigerian comedies on DVD.

“She is a village girl who didn’t go to school to learn English, Greek, Portuguese, what have you,” said her older brother. “All she learned was the Koran. Can you imagine how on earth she is suffering through this ordeal?” Another brother says his sister, now 32, was so shy and undemanding growing up that “even if she were hungry, she wouldn’t tell you." She "isn’t a fiery woman,” said a friend in the woman's Bronx neighborhood, where she seems to melt into the background. For fun, the woman watches Nigerian comedies at home on DVD, the friend added. For now, the African immigrant is holding on to her faith. "She will never change that," said a brother. (More Dominique Strauss Kahn stories.)