Nicki Minaj’s brother sentenced to 25 years to life for raping his stepdaughter
According to TMZ, Jelani Maraj was found guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child and endangering the welfare of a child in a trial that lasted less than 3 weeks in 2017.
Jelani Maraj. Source: Nassau County Jail / Splash News / Bossip
Nicki Minaj’s older brother, Jelani Maraj has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for raping his stepdaughter.
According to TMZ, Jelani was found guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child and endangering the welfare of a child in a trial that lasted less than 3 weeks in 2017.
Jelani’s victim was 11 years old at the time of the acts, and she told the courts in 2017 that Maraj raped her “repeatedly between April and November of 2015”, Fox News reports.
The presiding judge for Jelani’s trial, Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Robert McDonald, lambasted Maraj for sexually abusing the girl, reports Page Six, saying that his “view is that you ruined this child, you raped this child”.
“You raped her over and over again.”
The victim’s brother is reported to have witnessed Jelani raping his sister and took the matter straight to her school’s officials.
Before his sentencing, Nicki’s brother pleaded for mercy, blaming his actions on his drinking problems.
“I’d like to apologize for the pain that I caused. I had an excessive drinking problem,” he said, adding that he’s “just asking for mercy from the court”.
Before he was sentenced, the victim, who is now his former stepdaughter, bravely told the court that the abuse led her to become suicidal.
“I didn’t think I could make it through the day without an anxiety attack,” she said. “I felt I had no voice.”
Nicki Minaj has not made any media statements following her brother’s sentencing.
In 2018, Nicki was accused of supporting her brother and threatened to sue Daily Mail TV host Jesse Palmer for saying she supported him in a segment of his news show, according to TMZ.
Nicki is currently married to her childhood love Kenneth Petty, who is also a convicted sex offender.
– Drum
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