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Nicki Minaj Brother Sentenced After Repeatedly Raping 11-Year-Old Stepdaughter

   DailyWire.com
Nicki Minaj attends The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City.
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

On Monday, Jelani Maraj, brother of famed rapper Nicki Minaj, was sentenced 25 years to life for repeatedly raping his then-11-year-old stepdaughter.

“A judge convicted Jelani Maraj of predatory sexual assault and child endangerment in November 2017. The victim testified during the trial that Maraj repeatedly raped her in 2015 while her mother was at work,” the Associated Press reported.

According to Revolt, the child claimed the first assault took place in April 2015 inside Maraj’s bedroom.

“He told me to take off my pants. … He told me to come under the covers with him, and he started to caress my back,” the child said, according to the outlet. “He took off his boxers … after that, we had sex.”

“I was on my forearms on the bed and my pants were pulled down,” the girl added.

The abuse continued even after the child’s brother allegedly walked in on an assault. The victim said she told her brother not to say anything to their mother.

“Prosecutors have said DNA evidence recovered from the girl’s pajama pants was linked to Maraj. The girl’s younger brother also testified at the trial that he witnessed one assault,” the AP report added.

Maraj, who was convicted in 2017, reportedly pleaded for a “second chance” in the courtroom, highlighting his alcohol problem.

His defense team also noted that Maraj “suffered from health issues including hypertension, gout and anemia and requested the minimum sentence of 10 years to life,” the AP said.

According to The Root, “Maraj’s attorney appealed conviction in 2018, claiming that there was jury misconduct. The judge ruled in October that the defense did not meet the necessary burden of proof.”

A Pitchfork report in 2017 said Minaj was set to testify on behalf of her brother.

“Nicki Minaj plans to take the witness stand in defense of her brother Jelani Maraj in his on-going child rape case, a lawyer for Maraj confirmed to Pitchfork today,” Pitchfork outlined at the time. “Maraj plead not guilty after being indicted of felony sexual assault against a child in April of 2016. According to the lawyer, he intends to make the argument that the alleged victim and her mother tried to ‘shake down’ Nicki to the tune of $25 million ‘to make the charges go away.'”

It’s unclear if Minaj did testify, though she did reportedly pay her brother’s $10,000 bail in 2015 shortly after he was arrested, according to the New York Post.

As noted by USA Today, the rapper posted a photo of herself hugging her brother at his wedding to Jacqueline Robinson in August 2015.

“Jelani, I love u more than you’ll ever comprehend,” the Instagram post was captioned.

“I would cross the ocean for u,” a post on another photo said. “I would go & bring u the moon. Promise u. For u I will. I love my brother so much man.”

View this post on Instagram

Jelani, I love u more than you'll ever comprehend. 😢

A post shared by Barbie (@nickiminaj) on

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