Congolese Rhumba maestro, Koffi Olomide, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for kidnapping his former dancers.
The Versailles Court in France sentenced the singer on 13 December, 2021 upon finding him guilty of holding his female dancers against their will.
The court’s verdict on his 18 months sentence came after Koffi Olomide had left Paris.
He died the accusations by his former dancers and said that “the dream of the young women who accuse me was to live in France and obtain papers from associations.”
The singer said that “women are very well protected, we must also listen to our point of view”.
The accusers are members of Koffi Olomide’s Quartier Latin band. They had earlier accussed the singer of sexual assault but these charges were dropped.
The alleged sexual assault on the dancers happened between 2002 and 2006 in the singer’s villa in Asnieres in Paris.
The President of the 7th Correctional Chamber of the Versailles Court of Appeal stated that the sexual assault is “given for the benefit of the doubt,”. The president was referring to the “evolving, sometimes contradictory statements” of the complainants.
The rhumba maestro is known for his many judicial records which includes a conviction in France back in 2019. This one was for rape of a minor (15 years of age). There was also the sequestration of four of his dancers. At the beginning the Nanterre court gave him a 2-year suspended sentence instead of a seven-year jail sentence requested by the prosecution.
The rumba maestro appealed against the sentence.
You may remember that Koffi Olomide was expelled from Kenya in 2016 when he assaulted one of his dancers. He apologized acknowledging “a little moment of distraction.”
Later in 2018, Zambia issued a warrant of arrest against Koffi Olomide for his assault of a photographer.
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