SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Verdict due in ASAP Rocky assault case

A verdict is expected in the ASAP Rocky assault case on Wednesday, after the US rapper was arrested following a fight in Stockholm in June. One of the key questions is whether he will be asked to return to Stockholm.

Verdict due in ASAP Rocky assault case
A drawing of the rapper and his lawyer in court. Picture: Anna Harvard / TT

The 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, will not be present in Stockholm for the verdict, which is due at 2 pm (1200 GMT).

Prosecutor Daniel Suneson called for a six-month prison sentence for Mayers and two of his crew, while the defence argued they acted in self-defence and should be acquitted.

Considered a “flight risk”, Mayers was held in custody while the case was investigated and throughout his trial. But he was released after the close of proceedings on August 2nd, pending the verdict, and immediately returned to the United States.

Fans and fellow artists campaigned for his release with an online petition called #JusticeForRocky garnering more than 640,000 signatures. Supporters were urged to boycott Swedish brands such as Ikea.

At his first performance following his release on Sunday, in Anaheim in California, the rapper thanked fans and called the experience in Sweden “scary” and “humbling”.

“I need y'all to keep praying for me,” he told the crowd, saying he hoped he would not have to return to serve a jail sentence.

The artist maintained his innocence, telling the court he acted in self-defence, saying he felt “scared” and that he and his entourage had repeatedly told the plaintiff to leave them alone.

Mayers conceded he threw the man to the ground and “kicked his arm”, but denied the prosecution's claim that a bottle was used and insisted he only acted after the accuser and his friend began attacking his bodyguard.

READ ALSO: How does Sweden's criminal justice system work?

The plaintiff, a Swedish resident born in Afghanistan, alleged he was attacked by Mayers and his entourage when he followed them to ask about a headphone set broken in an earlier scuffle with the rapper's bodyguard.

Assault carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison in Sweden.

Suneson called for a six-month sentence, saying Mayers did not seem scared as he had claimed, and there had been no need for self-defence. His defence lawyer Slobodan Jovicic argued for acquittal and after the trial, he said he did not expect the rapper would need to return to Sweden for any kind of sentence.

“I'm pretty confident he won't need to serve a single day,” Jovicic told reporters.

Journalists outside the court. Photo: Fredrik Persson / TT

Stockholm University criminal law lecturer Dennis Martinsson told news agency TT that even if Mayers is found guilty he might not have to return to Sweden.

Martinsson said Mayers would likely either receive a suspended sentence and a fine or a shorter sentence deemed already served on remand.

In one video clip of the brawl published by US celebrity news outlet TMZ, the rapper can be seen throwing a young man to the ground and aiming several punches at him while he is down.

The court was also shown videos posted on the artist's Instagram account, purporting to show the lead-up to the scrap. Mayers appears to repeatedly ask the man and his friend to stop following him and his entourage. The prosecution argued that the Instagram videos were heavily edited.

Much of the trial also focused on whether a bottle was used as the plaintiff suffered cuts that medical examiners said seemed to be from glass.

US President Donald Trump also repeatedly called for his release — drawing complaints of interference from Swedish politicians.Trump sent US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Robert C. O'Brien to attend the trial.

“The president felt they shouldn't have been detained, they were stalked,” O'Brien told reporters. 

By Johannes Ledel

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

LANDSLIDE

Swedish authorities: Worker negligence behind motorway landslide

Swedish authorities said on Thursday that worker negligence at a construction site was believed to be behind a landslide that tore apart a motorway in western Sweden in September.

Swedish authorities: Worker negligence behind motorway landslide

The landslide, which struck the E6 highway in Stenungsund, 50 kilometres north of Sweden’s second-largest city Gothenburg, ripped up a petrol station car park, overturned lorries and caved in the roof of a fast food restaurant.

READ ALSO:

Prosecutor Daniel Veivo Pettersson said on Thursday he believed “human factors” were behind the landslide as “no natural cause” had been found during the investigation.

He told a press conference the landslide had been triggered by a nearby construction site where too much excavated material had been piled up, putting excessive strain on the ground below. 

“At this stage, we consider it negligent, in this case grossly negligent, to have placed so much excavated material on the site,” Pettersson said.

Pettersson added that three people were suspected of among other things gross negligence and causing bodily harm, adding that the investigation was still ongoing.

The worst-hit area covered around 100 metres by 150 metres, but the landslide affected an area of around 700 metres by 200 metres in total, according to emergency services.

Three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the collapse, according to authorities.

SHOW COMMENTS