African ‘mermaid’ not a splash

Press, 1 June 1985, Page 11

African ‘mermaid’ not a splash

NZPA-AFP Abidjan, Ivory Coast A deformed teen-ager who posed as a legendary African mermaid with the power to multiply banknotes has been jailed in the Ivory Coast for fraud. Fatou Sidibe, who is just 82cm (32 inches), tall, has no

legs, and her withered arms look rather like flippers. She worked with a gang of crooks from her home country, Mali, and was known variously as the Goddess of the Waters, the Siren of the Lagoon and “Mammi Wata”. Her accomplices lured

gullible customers to the edge of a lagoon at nightfall and made them wait for hours until the mermaid put in an appearance, wearing a fluorescent dress and with her long hair flowing round her shoulders. She would take their money and tell them to

come back the next day to collect the inflated sum. The activities of the latenight gang came to light when a trader trying to boost his savings of 400,000 CFA francs ($1943) became suspicious and alerted the police. The leader of the gang,

who claimed to be a great religious leader, is still at large. The Ivory Coast daily newspaper “Fraternite Matin” criticised criminals who exploited deformed people and said that the girl was “herself a victim.” '