Jelani Maraj, Nicki Minaj‘s older brother, has been convicted of raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter.
Maraj appeared stone-faced as the verdict was read aloud Thursday in a Long Island, New York courtroom. He faces up to 25 years behind bars or even the possibility of a life term. He will return to court to be sentenced on December 14.
The girl, who is now 13, took the stand to say Maraj repeatedly raped her in their Long Island home when he was married to her mother.
The victim’s brother, who was just eight years old at the time, testified that he caught Maraj on top of his sister and was slapped and threatened by Maraj afterwards.
The victim later discussed the details of the assaults, including Maraj instructing her on ways to make anal sex less painful and using lubrication during the assaults.
Maraj maintained his innocence throughout, despite DNA evidence on the victim and her clothes. While she came under fire for paying $100,000 to bail her brother out of jail initially, Nicki Minaj has yet to issue a statement on the case.
At one point during the trial, it surfaced that Nicki was going to testify in defense of her brother, but that never came to fruition.
Maraj’s defense attorney attempted to convince jurors the allegations were concocted to extort millions from the “Super Bass” singer.
Maraj appeared stone-faced as the verdict was read aloud Thursday in a Long Island, New York courtroom. He faces up to 25 years behind bars or even the possibility of a life term. He will return to court to be sentenced on December 14.
The girl, who is now 13, took the stand to say Maraj repeatedly raped her in their Long Island home when he was married to her mother.
The victim’s brother, who was just eight years old at the time, testified that he caught Maraj on top of his sister and was slapped and threatened by Maraj afterwards.
The victim later discussed the details of the assaults, including Maraj instructing her on ways to make anal sex less painful and using lubrication during the assaults.
Maraj maintained his innocence throughout, despite DNA evidence on the victim and her clothes. While she came under fire for paying $100,000 to bail her brother out of jail initially, Nicki Minaj has yet to issue a statement on the case.
At one point during the trial, it surfaced that Nicki was going to testify in defense of her brother, but that never came to fruition.
Maraj’s defense attorney attempted to convince jurors the allegations were concocted to extort millions from the “Super Bass” singer.
