“NOTHING TO LAUGH ABOUT”
by Contributor
(Aug. 21, 2019) — Rakim Mayers, or commonly known as A$AP Rocky, first made the headlines after a street fight on 30th June. The 30-year-old rapper was detained roughly about a month ago and faced the first day of the trial on Tuesday, August 13.
The artist was in town for a concert where two men followed him who other bystanders accuse of wrongdoings as shown in a video by A$AP Rocky. The rapper tried walking away from the two men, but they kept following him.
At some point, one of the men appeared to throw his headphones aiming at one of Rocky’s security guards.
Daniel Suneson read out the charges against the rapper with two other men that were in his entourage. The prosecutor mentioned that they had assaulted the victim by beating while they kicked him with either a part or whole bottle as he lay on the ground.
The victim had told the court that he had suffered arm and head injuries and suffered some broken ribs.
In his defense, A$AP Rocky’s lawyer, Slobodan Jovicic said that the rapper was defending himself when he fought against the victim and threw him to the ground and pressed his arm. He added that his client is used to meeting with such people in the street who provoke him, so he was acting out of fear for his life.
The victim was seeking compensation for damages done. The compensation claim was $14,600, which is equivalent to about 139,700 Swedish krona.
President Trump gets involved in the case
The case drew a lot of attention such that even President Trump commented on the case. He said, “I’ll be calling out on the very talented Prime Minister of Sweden to see what we can do about helping A$AP Rocky.” He went on, “So many people would like to see this quickly resolved.”
Robert O’Brien, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Special Affairs, went to court on Tuesday to show support to Rocky’s family and the U.S. citizens in general.
The ‘Praise the Lord’ hitmaker and two other men, Bladimir Corniel, and David Rispers, had been accused of the attacks.
The Wednesday’s Stockholm District Court ruling rejected Rocky’s claim of self-defense. The court went ahead to say that based on the evidence they had, Rocky and the other two men were not subjected to any attack. Hence, there was no need for the attacks.
The court further said that the situation did not warrant any use of force as self-defense.
Rocky was released on 2nd August, and the Wednesday ruling didn’t require him to be present in court for the final verdict.
Rocky was given a conditional sentence, which means he doesn’t have to serve time in prison. He was put under probation for the next two years.
The victim was awarded $1,300, which is equivalent to 12,500 Swedish Krona, because there was a violation of his pain and also integrity during the incident.
The defendants were also instructed to pay fees associated with the victim’s lawyer, which translated to $8,400 or 80,610 Swedish krona.
Previously, there were claims that the victim was hit with a glass bottle. However, on Wednesday, the court stated that there was too much conflicting evidence, and it was impossible to ascertain if indeed the defendants used the glass bottle to attack the victims.
The victim’s lawyer said that following the court ruling, the victim was overly disappointed by the outcome.
Judge Per Lennerbrant that the ruling was not affected by Trump’s opinion on the case. He, in fact, said nobody had contacted him or any other Swedish Court member regarding the case.
Lennerbrant went on to say that there were contacts that happened on a political level but it in no way affected the ruling.
A$AP Rocky commented on the ruling saying that hopefully, he won’t go back to jail again. He responded in the Real Street Festival.
Prison is nothing to laugh about and has its own fair share of challenges. The expenses involved can take a toll on somebody, and if you are not financially stable, you may end up incurring a lot of debt to pay for bail or any other court-related expenses. However, you can check out Crediful here to see some loan options in case one of your family members needs urgent cash to make bail.
Born in 3rd October 1988, A$AP is a rapper, songwriter, singer, actor and music video director. His mixtape, Live.Love.A$AP, is what bagged him a record deal with Sony, Polo Grounds, and RCA Records. He recorded his first album in 2013, Live.Love.A$AP, which debuted as number one on the Billboard 200.
Rocky has directed his own music videos and other A$AP group members.