SA rapper jailed in Oz for indecent assault
Okmalumkoolkat perfoming at Oppikoppi a music festival held in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, near the mining town of Northam with estimated 20 000 revellers.468 Picture:Matthews Baloyi 2015/08/09 Okmalumkoolkat perfoming at Oppikoppi a music festival held in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, near the mining town of Northam with estimated 20 000 revellers.468 Picture:Matthews Baloyi 2015/08/09
Cape Town -South African rapper Simiso Zwane, better known as OkMalumKoolKat, will spend a month behind bars in Hobart, Australia after he was convicted of indecent assault.
According to Australian media, the 32-year-old musician this week pleaded guilty to the charge, which stemmed from his having entered a sleeping woman’s hotel room and rubbed her private parts.
His arrest and jail sentence were reported both here and in Australia and quickly spread on social media.
Zwane’s public relations company Stamp Communications released a statement on Friday saying it had “limited information regarding the judgment”.
“But with no previous legal charges or history of any violence whatsoever… we can say that the news comes as a huge surprise and one that has truly rocked us all.”
According to Zwane’s Facebook page, he travelled to Australia on January 12 for a five-date tour. He was set to play two shows in Hobart, as well as single shows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Details of his arrest were reported in the Tasmanian newspaper The Mercury. The newspaper’s website said police arrested Zwane in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, last Saturday.
It said during his court case it had emerged that Zwane entered a sleeping woman’s room after returning to his hotel in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The woman woke to find him in “bed kissing her neck and rubbing his hands over her private parts,” The Mercury reported. He stopped after she told him to leave.
The article went on to say Zwane’s lawyer had said he was remorseful for his actions, was “jet-lagged, intoxicated and confused at the time”.
He was sentenced to six months jail with five months suspended.
Weekend Argus