Rap musician Ali B denies rape, sexual assault in appeal hearing

Rap musician Ali B has once again denied in the appeal of his sexual assault case that he raped Ellen ten Damme. "We kissed once at De Parade, that’s all," he said. He also maintains he did not assault singer Jill Helena in May 2018 in a car at Amsterdam’s Martin Luther King Park, claiming it was consensual kissing and that they were involved in a long-term affair, and denied the allegation of raping a woman in Heiloo.

The Haarlem court previously sentenced Ali B to two years in prison for the Heiloo rape and the attempted rape of Ellen ten Damme. Both Ali B, seeking acquittal, and the Public Prosecution Service, seeking a harsher sentence for all three cases, have filed appeals.

Ten Damme told police in 2022 that she was raped by the rap musician in April 2014 at a hotel in Meknès, Morocco, during TV recordings for the AVROTROS show Ali B en de Muziekkaravaan. On Tuesday afternoon, the court presented footage from the program, which the defendant said demonstrates "our playful and amicable connection, with mutual respect."

Although Ten Damme did not file a formal complaint, she recounted her experience to the police, which the Public Prosecution Service deemed enough to pursue charges.

She alleged that Ali B entered her hotel room, pulled down his pants, and tried to rape her, pushing her onto the bed and following her around while she protested. Ali B called the allegations "crazy," arguing, "You don’t walk around Morocco with an erection and enter the room of someone you’ve only been flirting with."

The court acquitted Ali B of raping Ten Damme in 2024 but found him guilty of attempted rape, citing a statement from Ten Damme’s boyfriend as supporting evidence.

Ten Damme never wanted to file a complaint against Ali B, her lawyer stated Tuesday at the close of the first day of the rapper’s sexual assault trial. "Ellen ten Damme never requested anything. Not that night in Morocco. Not with the police. Not for this trial. And definitely not for a media circus," Ruth Jager said on her client’s behalf.

Jager said Ten Damme never sought any attention around the case. "It impacts her in many ways, including professionally," the lawyer added. "She can’t promote her own shows anymore because journalists focus on just one topic, and that’s precisely what she doesn’t want to talk about."

The lawyer stated that her client is frightened. "She is afraid of the ordeal she will face again today and in the days ahead, and of how the defense publicly talks about her, with the sole aim of marginalizing her to secure an acquittal."

In response to Helena’s accusations, the defendant told the court, "We were intimate on multiple occasions, both at her home and in hotels. It was always joyful and affectionate. Even after that day, she continued sending me messages with hearts."

In her report, the former The Voice of Holland contestant said her former coach invited her into his car after a party in Monnickendam to listen to music, then drove to a secluded location where he allegedly pressured her for sex.

Helena stated that he touched her breasts and genital area without her consent, and she allegedly pushed him away "just to get him off her." The defendant denies these allegations.

The singer, absent from the appeal, filed a complaint following the airing of the online show BOOS, which investigated misconduct related to The Voice.

B said that of all the accusations, Jill Helena’s complaint impacted him the most. He argued that her allegation is hard to reconcile with their prior relationship: "She was always the one initiating contact, often sending heart-eye emojis. That’s very hard for me to reconcile."

Helena has been thrown into panic by the appeal in his case, her lawyer Sébas Diekstra told the Amsterdam court. Diekstra explained, "After filing her complaint, she knew she had to proceed because the defendant publicly denied it. She deliberately chose to exercise her right to speak, to face the defendant. That decision has profoundly affected her life. Jill has now decided to step back from active participation in this process. She wants to move on, prioritizing her safety and protecting herself. The toll on her has already exceeded what she could have imagined."

During the 2024 court hearings, Jill Helena faced a flood of threats, hate, and negativity, her lawyer said. "Her sense of safety vanished. She felt uneasy going grocery shopping or walking her dog, and she had to bring security to her shows. Her world kept shrinking."

Her lawyer said the stress and toll of the legal process have left her drained. "Knowing she had to relive everything, this has cast a constant shadow over her life for the past two years."

Ali B, 44, responded emotionally to the victim's statement, saying he wanted to "take away the pain" for Jill Helena. He added that, in his view, the door remains open for dialogue and that he never wanted her to feel that way, "not for a single millisecond."

The woman who accused Ali B of assault and rape in Heiloo "has solely been seeking recognition" throughout the proceedings, according to her lawyer Bernard Sprenger.

Sprenger stated that his client is "relentlessly attacked online," despite not asking for any money. "Her actions are not motivated by self-interest, but because the experience became too unbearable to bear in silence."

"Since filing her complaint, she has lost work and friends. She has relocated three times due to this case and even spent time abroad to escape harassment in the Netherlands."

Her lawyer stated that in June 2024, three days after Ali B’s criminal trial in Haarlem, the entrance to her apartment building was set on fire, and her family home was defaced with her personal information. "This is known as doxing, the gathering or sharing of personal data to intimidate someone, which is a criminal act."

At a writer’s camp in Heiloo, the woman engaged in oral sex with rapper Ronnie Flex. She alleges in her report that Ali B entered the room at that time and, without her consent, inserted his fingers into her vagina.

When she asked if he knew anything about consent, he allegedly mocked her and became angry when she tried to remove him from the room. She also reported that Ali B assaulted her earlier that evening.

Her lawyer noted that the woman also had sex with rapper Bokoesam. "To clear the air: why would a woman go to a writer’s camp at night and have sex with some people? Because that’s her choice. If she chooses to be intimate with person 1 and 2 but not person 3, person 3 must respect that," he said.

The woman wrote her own victim statement, which Sprenger quoted: "Being raped by a Dutch celebrity is not a status symbol, it’s a burden. If it happens, you have to live with it for the rest of your life."

At the appeal hearing in Ali B’s case, the court reviewed, among other things, a new statement from rap musician Ronell Plasschaert, better known as Ronnie Flex. He told the examining magistrate that he does not recall hearing the word “rape” at the 2018 writers’ camp in Heiloo. Ali B responded on Tuesday that the word was never spoken.

Ronnie Flex referred to the situation as "a minor incident" when Ali B entered the room. He said he did not hear the woman mention the word “rape.” According to his statement, Ali B left after the brief exchange, and Ronnie Flex and the woman continued afterward.

Ali B said it’s difficult to believe that Ronnie Flex wouldn’t have noticed if the word “rape” had been mentioned. "If you are performing oral sex and hear ‘rape,’ every alarm bell should ring." The court also reviewed an earlier statement from the woman claiming Ali B lay down next to Ronnie Flex, which Flex denied, saying Ali B never did.