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Koffi Olomidé not guilty of rape but liable for holding 4 dancers
Koffi Olomidé, a Congolese music singer, was exonerated of sexually assaulting four of his former dancers by a French appeals court but was found guilty of keeping them against their will.
Koffi Olomidé is not guilty of rape but liable for holding four dancers, a 2019 ruling that found him guilty of statutory rape of one of the dancers when she was 15 was repealed by the court.
However, between 2002 and 2006, he was found guilty of depriving the women of their liberty at a villa in Paris.
Koffi Olomidé is to serve an 18-month suspended sentence and pay them compensation.
The public prosecutor had requested an eight-year minimum sentence.
“Obviously, the sexual assault verdicts will disappoint his accusers since, for them, this was the most important thing,” said lawyer David Desgranges, who was representing three of the women.
He allegedly abused them “in hotels, sometimes in cars… in recording studios,” according to one of them.
Koffi Olomidé was found not guilty of sexual assault by a judge in Versailles, who overturned the rape charge due to “changing and sometimes contradictory” evidence from his accusers.
However, the court found his actions saw the women “deprived of all liberties and constantly watched” by two of his accomplices who shut them in a room with the blinds drawn.
He was also sentenced to pay a fine of 10,000-32,000 euros ($11,000-36,000) to each dancer in addition to the suspended sentence.
Olomidé, whose real name is Antoine Agbepa Mumba, is a popular singer in Africa.
The 65-year-old is a great figure in the rumba and soukous music genres, which are very popular in Africa. Koffi Olomidé has released so many hit songs over the years.
Koffi Olomidé has been on the wrong side of the law severally…
- Zambia issued an arrest warrant for him in 2018 after he allegedly assaulted a photographer.
- He was jailed and deported from Kenya in 2016 after assaulting one of his dancers.
- He was convicted of assaulting his producer in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012 and received a three-month suspended prison sentence.
- He was accused of kicking a cameraman from the private RTGA television station in the Democratic Republic of Congo and breaking his camera at a concert in 2008, but the two later reconciled.
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