Rapper Ali B sentenced to for two counts of rape; Acquitted of sexual assault
On Thursday, the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam convicted rapper Ali B of two counts of rape and sentenced him to three years in prison. The appeals court considered it proven that the 44-year-old man raped a woman during a writers retreat in Heiloo in 2018 and raped singer Ellen ten Damme in a hotel in Morocco in April 2014, ANP reported.
The sentence is six months longer than the Public Prosecution Service (OM) had recommended. The court acquitted Ali B of sexually assaulting Jill Helena after a show in Monnickendam in 2018 due to insufficient evidence. The OM had also recommended the acquittal.
Last year, the court in Haarlem sentenced Ali B to two years in prison, convicting him of raping the woman in Heiloo and attempting to rape Ellen ten Damme. Both the rapper and the OM appealed against the ruling.
Ten Damme told the police that Ali B raped her at a hotel in Meknès, Morocco, in April 2014, during recordings for the TV show Ali B en de Muziekkaravaan. Ali B entered her bedroom with his pants down, pushed her onto the bed, and followed her around the room while she protested. Ten Damme never filed charges, but did share her experiences with the police, which was sufficient for the OM to prosecute the rapper.
The Heiloo victim told the authorities that she was having oral sex with rapper Ronnie Flex during a writing retreat in a villa in Heiloo in 2018 when Ali B entered the room and unexpectedly penetrated her with his fingers. He became angry when she asked him if he had ever heard of consent and resisted when she tried to remove him from the room.
The court found both women’s statements reliable and the supporting evidence sufficient to convict Ali B of two counts of rape. In the Heiloo case, the presiding judge spoke of a brief and intense attack. Ellen ten Damme faced a prolonged attack, which she fiercely resisted, the judge said.
During the appeal, the rapper again denied the allegations against him. He said that he did not rape the woman in Heiloo while she was having oral sex with another rapper. He called Ten Damme’s allegations “crazy.” And he argued that the sexual assault Jill Helena accused him of was consensual kissing in a car as part of a long-ongoing love affair.
The court did not consider the significant media attention surrounding the case grounds for a lower sentence, partly because Ali B also sought publicity during the proceedings.
