Nicki Minaj’s brother, Jelani Maraj has been sentenced to 25 years to life imprisonment after being found guilty of predatory rape.
According to reports, Jelani was found guilty of predatory sexual assault against an 11-year-old child and endangering the welfare of a child in a trial that lasted less than three weeks.
The 41-year-old was handed his sentence in New York after being convicted in 2017 for raping an 11-year-old girl.
Back in 2017, the rapper, whose real name is Onika Maraj-Petty, visited her brother while he was locked up.
Nicki didn’t testify during the trial despite claims made by her brother’s defense team that she would.
Jelani Maraj was first charged in the case back in April 2016. He was accused of repeatedly raping his stepdaughter, beginning when she was 11 years old.
The victim of the crime, 14 years old at the time of the original trial, spoke about how the attacks against her left her ‘feeling like she had no voice’ and prone to anxiety attacks.
She told jurors that he had previously treated her like a daughter but told her that the abuse was her fault and that she ‘wanted it to happen’.
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His lawyer, David Schwartz had claimed at various points that the girl’s allegations against Maraj were part of her mother’s $25 million extortion scheme.
In October 2019, a Nassau County judge denied Maraj and Schwartz’s bid to have the verdict overturned.
Maraj was eventually caught after DNA evidence found on the girls pyjamas proved to be a one in 291million chance.
His lawyer said he plans to appeal, calling the sentence ‘excessive’.
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