New York Daily News

Child tells of repeated rape by star’s brother

- BY CHELSIA ROSE MARCIUS and STEPHEN REX BROWN

CALLING HER his “puppet,” the brother of Queens rap star Nicki Minaj repeatedly raped his stepdaught­er for months, according to emotional testimony offered by the now 14-year-old girl Monday.

The dark and disturbing tale revealed in Nassau County Court featured the victim — who was only 11 years old at the time of the alleged attacks — describing stepfather Jelani Maraj’s sexual assaults in graphic detail.

“He would call me his puppet and told me I had no say in what he did to me,” the girl testified, saying Maraj, 38, sexually attacked her multiple times.

The girl said the assaults began when the relationsh­ip between Maraj and her mother, Jacqueline Robinson, started to sour in April 2015.

“They were arguing more often at that time,” she said.

The first alleged assault occurred that month in Maraj’s bedroom, the girl said.

Maraj (photo) told her to get into bed next to him, she testified.

“He told me to take off my pants,” the victim said. “He told me to come under the covers with him, and he started to caress my back.”

The 14-year-old — who began to shake as she told her story — had to ask to take a break before she could continue.

“He took off his boxers . . . after that, we had sex,” she said, noting that it was both oral and vaginal intercours­e.

Maraj told her it had happened because she was “brushing” herself against him, she said.

“He had mentioned that . . . I wanted it to happen. . . . HetoldmeI couldn’t tell anyone, that I couldn’t tell my mother,” she said.

“I thought that he would send me away from my mother.”

A month later, the rape was still going on, she said.

“I was still having sex with him . . . . We would have sex in his bedroom, my bedroom, in the basement,” the teen said.

By June, Maraj was keeping her home from orchestra and soccer practice, she said. He began to rape her anally, and hit her if she cried, she told the courtroom. Her mom was often at work and absent from the house, she said.

“He would slap me . . . on my face,” she said.

In August 2015, the victim said, her brother found her stepdad sexually assaulting her.

“I was on my forearms on the bed and my pants were pulled down,” she said.

She asked her brother, who was 8 at the time, not to tell their mother, the victim testified.

That same month Maraj and Robinson got married in a $30,000 ceremony. Minaj picked up the tab. The teen said the couple’s relationsh­ip was already tense by the time of the wedding and that both were drinking a lot.

But the rape continued even after her parents tied the knot, the girl said.

The alleged pervert, who is the older brother of the hip-hop star, faces 15 years to life if found guilty of the top charge.

Minaj could take the stand in the trial.

Maraj’s defense team has argued that his wife invented the rapes as a way to extort $25 million from his famous sister.

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