Congo-Kinshasa: Rhumba Maestro Koffi Olomide Guilty of Rape

Capital FM
Koffi Olomide.
19 March 2019
allAfrica.com
By Melody Chironda

Cape Town — The popular rhumba and soukous maestro Koffi Olomide has been found guilty of statutory rape of one of his former dancers when she was 15.

Olomide has been on trial for sexually assaulting his dancers between 2002 and 2006. The dancers said they were detained by three men at the villa in Asnieres-sur-Seine, Paris, while Olomide was touring or recording, and had their passports and phones confiscated.

They say that they were forced to have sex with Olomide, who struck them if they tried to resist. The assaults happened in the Democratic Republic of Congo and France.

He was handed a two-year suspended jail sentence by a court in France in absentia, as he failed to turn up. According to AFP, Olomide was ordered to pay a fine of U.S.$5,700 in damages to the former dancer and for helping three women enter France illegally.

The popular singer is no stranger to controversy as he was declared persona non-grata in 2016 and deported after he kicked one of his female dancers at Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Kenya.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2019 allAfrica.com. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.