Nicki Minaj’s brother Jelani Maraj sentenced to 25 years to life in prison following 2017 conviction in child rape case
Nicki Minaj’s brother Jelani Maraj was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison following his 2017 conviction for child rape.
Judge Robert McDonald sentenced Maraj in a New York court on Monday, according to TMZ.
He was found guilty of ‘predatory sexual assault against a child and endangering the welfare of a child’ for repeatedly raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter while her mother was at work.
Sentenced: Nicki Minaj’s brother Jelani Maraj was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Monday in New York following his 2017 conviction for child rape (Jelani and Nicki pictured)
Maraj has been held in custody, awaiting sentencing, since he was found guilty of the felony following a three week trial.
The victim, now 14, testified in excruciating detail about sexual assaults that she said occurred as frequently as four times a week and sometimes twice a day.
The girl’s younger brother also testified at the trial that he witnessed one assault and the prosecutor said DNA evidence recovered from the girl’s pajama pants was linked to Maraj.
Maraj’s lawyers tried to convince the jury that the rape allegations were concocted by the girl’s mother as part of a scheme to get Nicki Minaj to pay the family $25 million in hush money.
Guilty: He was found guilty of ‘predatory sexual assault against a child and endangering the welfare of a child’ for repeatedly raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter while her mother was at work (Maraj pictured arriving to court for the verdict in 2017)
Neither Maraj nor his famous sister testified at the trial, even though during opening arguments defense lawyers said that the rapper was on the witness list.
Minaj paid her brother’s $100,000 bail back when he was first arrested for the crime in 2015.
The siblings were reportedly quite close prior to the arrest, with Nicki previously plunking down $30,000 to pay for her older brother’s wedding to the mother of his rape victim.
Following this conviction, however, sources said the two grew apart. A week after his conviction, Nicki visited her brother in jail, but reportedly only did so to support their mother Carol, according to TMZ.
Falling out: Minaj paid her brother’s $100,000 bail back when he was first arrested for the crime in 2015 when the siblings were reportedly quite close, however, sources said the two grew apart following the convictions (Maraj’s 2015 mug shot)
While Nicki appeared to distance herself from her brother following the conviction, she ironically married a man who was previously convicted of a similar crime.
In the fall of 2019, the rapper tied the knot with convicted sex offender Kenneth Petty who served time for the 1995 rape of a 16-year-old girl in Queens, New York.
He spent four years in prison in connection with the incident, and was also placed on the sex offender registry.
Kenneth also has a first-degree manslaughter conviction in 2006 in the fatal 2002 shooting of a man. He served seven years of a 10-year sentence and was released from custody in 2013.
Sex crimes: While Nicki appeared to distance herself from her brother following the conviction, she ironically married a man who was previously convicted the 1995 rape of a 16-year-old girl in Queens, New York