Nicki Minaj‘s brother on Monday was sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars for repeatedly raping his 11-year-old stepdaughter — as a judge laced into him for “ruining” the girl.
Jelani Maraj appeared stoic in a Long Island courtroom before he learned his fate, following his conviction for predatory sexual assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Robert McDonald lambasted Maraj for sexually abusing the girl, saying that his “view is that you ruined this child”
“You raped this child. You raped her over and over again,” McDonald said.
The sentence comes two years after a jury handed down the guilty verdict for the sexual abuse, which began in 2015.
The victim’s brother witnessed Maraj assaulting his sister and later notified school officials.
Minaj didn’t appear in court to support her older sibling Monday, but Maraj’s lawyer, David Schwartz, read a 2016 letter that the “Tusa” singer wrote in a bid to get her brother a lighter sentence.
In the letter, the rapper referred to Maraj as the “most patient, gentle, genuine, giving selfless man I know.”
Maraj also pleaded for mercy at his sentencing, though he maintained that he was innocent of the charges.
“I’d like to apologize for the pain that I caused. I had an excessive drinking problem,” he said, adding that he’s “just asking for mercy from the court.”
Before he was sentenced, the victim, who is now his former stepdaughter, bravely told the court that the abuse led her to become suicidal.
“I didn’t think I could make it through the day without an anxiety attack.“ she said. “I felt I had no voice.”
She previously testified at Maraj’s 2017 trial that he repeatedly raped her in family’s Baldwin home while he was married to her mother.
Maraj denied the allegations, claiming the story was concocted to extort his famous sister.
After the sentencing, Schwartz said his client plans to appeal. An earlier attempt to overturn the case was thrown out.
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