CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses and contains videos with violent themes
A$AP Rocky has faced court in Stockholm, Sweden overnight where he’s been accused of assaulting a 19-year-old man. As CNN reports, he’s testified that he acted in self defence.
A$AP Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers is currently on trial with two members of his team after a street fight in Stockholm back in June. Rocky along with Bladimir Corniel and David Rispers have all pleaded not guilty and say they were acting in self defence.
The court heard that Rocky was trying to download an app so he could hire an electric scooter when the alleged victim approached his bodyguard. He said he thought the behaviour of the guys was strange, “It got a bit scary.”
Rocky told the court he suspected the man was on drugs and said he and his team tried to walk away but were followed by the man and his friend.
“At this point we are really scared. I saw my security guard being cut, bleeding. We didn’t know what to expect with these strangers — I’m not from Sweden, so it was really scary,” A$AP Rocky said.
“I wanted to go straight to the hotel for safety. I didn’t want this to happen… We had no clue where we were, we just knew we weren’t close to the hotel.”
A$AP told the Swedish prosecutor that he was scared and in “defence mode” saying, “You’ve got to realise that my life is very, very particular.”
“We’re in a foreign country. We’re approached by two strangers with aggressive behaviour… Ten months ago when I was with my cousin and these two gentlemen, I was stabbed in the face.”
He added that his home has been robbed at gun point twice, saying he doesn’t know what to expect when he’s approached by strangers.
“That is why I have a security guard. I’m only thinking about defending myself.”
When questioned by his own lawyer A$AP Rocky said that he’d heard he could demand damages and money but he doesn’t want that.
“I don’t want any money. I can earn that money back. For me, what I want is justice. And I want my name to be cleared. And justice for all.”
However, Rocky’s alleged victim, 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari, shared a version of events which didn’t align with his. The court heard that Jafari had run into Rocky after being separated from his friends and when he asked the rapper if he’d seen his friends. Rocky’s bodyguard was reportedly not pleased with this and told the man to go away.
“If someone says in a nice way, ‘Go away from here’, then you do. But he just pushed me. What he did was wrong,” Jafari told the court.
He then alleged that Rocky’s bodyguard grabbed his throat, lifted him, and carried him away while choking him. He said this incident also broke his headphones, which is why he can be seen following A$AP in the videos posted to Instagram.
It was also alleged that A$AP Rocky used a weapon, claiming that the injuries sustained by Jafari are consistent with a bottle or a similar object.
The trial mainly focused around analysing video footage and assessing whether bottles were used in the brawl.
One video, which was published by TMZ and is shown down below, was assessed frame by frame. Red circles were drawn around A$AP Rocky and his crew’s hands — this reportedly showed they were not holding bottles.
If found guilty, the men could face up to two years in prison. There are five more witnesses still expected to share what they saw before the trial wraps up.
Surfacing footage from the altercation
During the trial, the alleged victim shared new surveillance footage of the brawl. The footage shows A$AP Rocky’s bodyguard warning the man to leave. It then shows the bodyguard picking the man up by his throat and moving him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqdKZprbGrQ&feature=youtu.be
The following video surfaced on Twitter of Jafari being thrown to the ground and assaulted, however, it’s unclear whether A$AP Rocky is one of the people in the video.
can’t get over the way asap rocky yeeted this dude 10ft because he was harassing women (and stalking him even tho he told him multiple times to stop) we love a king pic.twitter.com/PXb4fDp7WF
— ana (@fuckagust) July 4, 2019
A$AP Rocky shared the following video to his Instagram prior to the trial.
