By Ijeoma Ilekanachi
Congolese singer, Antoine Christophe Agbepa Mumba, also known as Koffi Olomidé, has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for the kidnapping of his former dancers.
The singer was sentenced by the Versailles Court in France on December 13. He was however, acquitted of sexual assault charges on the same dancers, who are former members of his Quartier Latin band.
The female dancers accused the Congolese singer of sexual assaulting and kidnapping them between 2002 and 2006 in a villa in Paris, France.
Koffi denied the accusations by his former dancers, saying that “the dream of the young women who accuse me was to live in France and obtain papers from associations” and that the women were well protected.
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The president of the 7th Correctional Chamber of the Versailles Court of Appeal stated the acquittal on the sexual assault charges was due to the conflicting nature of the evidence.
He is to serve an 18-month sentence and pay a fine of Sh1.2 million ($10,000) to each dancer. The singer has, however, filed an appeal against the sentence.
Koffi Olumide has a long judicial record mainly in assault. In 2016, he was expelled from Kenya following a public assault on one of his dancers. The singer apologised, acknowledging “a little moment of distraction.”
In 2018, Zambia issued a warrant of arrest against him for assaulting a photographer, being one of the incidents that have created a particularly heavy past for the boss of the Quartier Latin band.
