Today it emerged that not only Taghi’s lawyer tried to influence Ellen ten Damme, but Khalid Kasem also interfered in the criminal case. Sébas Diekstra, the lawyer of one of the victims, says that Khalid called him with a request to sit down with Ali B.
Push through sentence
“Khalid told me that he had been in direct contact with Mr. B. and that the request came directly from him.” Diekstra thinks that the rapper has used Khalid to get his way. The rapper’s lawyer previously tried to get the victims to go to mediation. Diekstra says: “Jill thinks it is very indicative of who he is, that he cannot accept the word ‘no’ and is not used to people denying him things.”
Incident with attorney Michael Ruperti
Khalid Kasem’s request is not an isolated one. Michael Ruperti, the lawyer representing Taghi, has previously tried to persuade one of the rapper’s victims to retract her statement. The victim’s attorney called that request “intimidating.”
Ali B denies influencing victims
Lawyer Bart Swier now says that Khalid’s call was only intended as a ‘reminder’. He emphasizes that the rapper has in no way tried to influence the victims with this call. Meanwhile, the dean of the Bar Council is also currently in discussions with Ruperti about the whole matter. This incident will undoubtedly be followed up…
Accusations
The rapper is accused of multiple sex crimes against three different adult women. One of the women who filed a report is Jill Helena. Jill took part in The Voice of Holland in 2013 and reached the final of the program. Things were just less pleasant behind the scenes. After the revealing ANGRY episode, which exposed the abuses within the program, Jill decided to report rape. In addition to Jill Helena’s case, there are three other ongoing cases against the rapper. These include another rape case and two sexual assaults.
When is the verdict?
Although the Public Prosecution Service has now imposed a sentence of three years, it will still take some time before we know what kind of punishment the rapper really has to face. The judge is expected to rule in this case against the rapper on June 27.
