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'Relax, It’s Part Of The Ceremony,' Self-Proclaimed Religious Figure Told Rape Victims, According To DA
“This defendant is a sexual predator who used his religious stature to lure women, then drugged and raped them," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said of 51-year-old Nigel Kennedy.
A Brooklyn man who fashioned himself a religious figure is facing a 13-count indictment for allegedly drugging and raping two women during faux rituals.
“Relax, it’s part of the ceremony,” Nigel Kennedy, 51, allegedly told one of his victims when she tried to push him off her, according to a news release by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
“This defendant is a sexual predator who used his religious stature to lure women, then drugged and raped them. We will now seek to hold him accountable for these despicable alleged acts,” Gonzalez said.
Kennedy, according to prosecutors, once owned a religious goods store in Brooklyn and “holds himself out as a religious and spiritual leader.” He met the two victims at his store, prosecutors say.
One victim, a 28-year-old woman, had gone to Kennedy’s apartment for a “spiritual reading” in May 2018. Kennedy blew smoke in her face and poured an alcohol-like liquid down her throat, then she passed out, according to prosecutors.
She awoke to find her pants off, and Kennedy having sex with her, but at first “was unable to move or speak,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by Oxygen.com. When she finally could move she tried to push Kennedy off of her, but could not.
The other victim, a 42-year-old woman, went to Kennedy’s apartment in August 2016 for what prosecutors describe as a “church ceremony.” Kennedy started chanting and poured an alcohol-like liquid into her mouth.
She “became dizzy and unable move,” according to the criminal complaint, but felt someone on top of her before passing out. She woke up, naked, next to Kennedy. When she asked him whe she was naked, Kennedy replied he had no idea, the complaint says.
Both victims went to the hospital after they were raped, and the DNA evidence collected there links Kennedy to the crimes, according to the complaint.
Kennedy was arrested in September after returning to the United States from Trinidad. He was arraigned Wednesday on first- and third-degree rape, first- and second-degree sexual abuse and other related charges.
Kennedy was releaed on $35,000 bail, and is due back in court Dec. 11.
[Photo: Brooklyn District Attorney]
