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OkMalumKoolKat Has Been Jailed for Sexual Assault After a Performance at a Tasmanian Music Festival

The South African rapper faces one month jail after he assaulted a fellow artist in her hotel room at Hobart's MOFO Festival.

OkMalumKoolKat, a South African rapper who performed at Hobart’s Mofo Festival in Tasmania last weekend has been jailed for sexually assaulting a fellow artist sleeping in her hotel room.

On Thursday, Brian Simiso Zwane, who performs as OkMalumKoolKat, was sentenced for a month jail despite his defense pushing for a fine so he could leave Australia.

Image: Hobart Mercury

The Hobart Mercury has reported that Zwane, who pleaded guilty to the charges, went drinking with friends after his MOFO performance last Friday night. Returning to his hotel at 5:30 AM, he was unable to find his room.

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He entered the victim’s hotel room through an external sliding door that had been left ajar. The woman (who has not been named) awoke to find Zwane in her bed kissing her neck and rubbing her body. Zwane stopped after the victim told him to leave and showed him the way out.

“This must have been extremely frightening,” Crown prosecutor Rebecca Lancaster said in court. “This is a huge violation … in an environment where she ought to have felt secure and safe.”

Lancaster said the fact that the victim was asleep was an aggravating factor because she could not consent.

Lawyer Steven Chopping said Zwane was “remorseful, ashamed and embarrassed” by his actions and had been jet-lagged, intoxicated, and confused when he’d become separated from his companions.

But Deputy Chief Magistrate Michael Daley said, “It was a gross invasion, a terrible invasion. She was entitled to be [secure] without you mauling her like this,” he said. He sentenced Zwane to one month jail.

Originally from the township of Umlazi in south-west Durban, Zwane began writing and performing as a kid over dubbed beats off TDK cassettes before a chance encounter in Johannesburg led him to Dokta SpiZee to form the electronic/rap duo of Dirty Paraffin (known for their feature on Boomslang with London-based outfit LV).

Speaking to Noisey in May 2015, OkMalumKoolKat said that he started as a pantsualr dancer and was responsible for new dance styles including the Taxi Driver.

The rapper is due to release his Holy Oxygen 2 EP on Affine Records in February.