Koffi Olomide has been cleared of sexual assault charges against four of his former dancers, but convicted of holding them against their will by a French appeals court.
KAMPALA | LIFESTYLE UGANDA (https://lifestyleuganda.com/) — An appeals court in France has found Congolese music star Koffi Olomide not guilty of sexual assault on four of his former dancers, but guilty of holding them against their will.
- The French court has cleared Koffi Olomide of allegations of sexual assault against him.
- Koffi Olomide and two accomplices to pay each of the four dancers $11,300 (£8,500).
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The star of the Congolese rumba, Koffi Olomide, was released Monday on appeal following sexual assault charges filed against four of his former dancers. The charges were dismissed, but he was jailed for 18 months with a probationary period of three years for having sequestered them while on tour in France.
In announcing the acquittal on the sexual assault charges, the president of the 7th correctional chamber of the court of appeal in Versailles cited in particular “evolving statements, sometimes conflicting” of the plaintiffs.
“With the benefit of doubt” is how the 7th correctional chamber of the court of appeal of Versailles explained why the sexual assaults had been acquitted, mentioning in particular the plaintiffs’ “evolving, occasionally contradictory” statements.
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In contrast, the sequestration is “clearly established beyond any doubt”, with complainants “deprived of any freedom and continuously supervised” by two accomplices of Koffi Olomide between 2002 and 2006 in a house in a Parisian suburb, where locks had been installed on shutters.
Both Congolese guards, Mbila Kakese, 45, and Ogima Tsasa Nduka, 49, were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and three years’ probation for their involvement in the crime of kidnapping.
As the court of appeal retains only the sequestration, it recalls “the absence of evidence”, and pronounced “a crucial release for the essence of the charges.” It was pleased with the AFP Antoine Vey, defending the star at the sides of Emmanuel Marsigny.
Olomide is now able to put the years-long case behind him, he added. At his trial, the latter spoke of “lies”, “concerted accounts”, and a “plot” to cripple his career.
Me David Desgranges, a lawyer representing three of the dancers, said after the deliberation that the complainants “will necessarily be disappointed regarding sexual abuse, since that was the most important issue for them.”
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As for the complainants, they are “necessarily disappointed on the offense of sexual abuse, since it was for them the most important,” said Me David Desgranges, who represents three of the dancers.
On the other hand, despite the decision in the first instance, sequestration was retained, which, according to the lawyer who does not anticipate an appeal in cassation, ”was satisfactory” because the damages were consequential.
The Congolese Rhumba star and two of his accomplices were ordered to pay each of the four dancers at least $11,300, a sum equal to £8,500.
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According to their complaint, the Congolese women were locked in a pavilion in the Paris suburbs between 2007 and 2013 and forced to have sex with him on a regular basis, for some of them.
During the trial, one of the women was in tears as she testified, “It happened at hotels, sometimes in the car, in studios.”.
One of them testified in tears during the trial, “sometimes in hotels, sometimes in cars, sometimes in recording studios.”
They have not returned to Congo since, confessing in the bar “their fear” of the consequences in front of an international star they nicknamed “the president”. One had also confessed to having attempted suicide at least once before the affair.
The judgment handed down by the court on Monday is far from what the public prosecutor expected since he had requested eight years in prison for the Franco-Congolese.
He asked that “the wreckage” of the first judgment be returned on and the guilty be acknowledged for this “powerful man”, who now resides in France.
His request is to return to the “wreckage” of the first judgment and to recognize this international star in France as guilty.
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