(Story originally posted at 9:51. a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, and updated at 11:35 a.m.)
A$AP Rocky has been found guilty of assault and ordered to pay his victim.
The 30-year-old rapper and his co-defendants, Bladimir Corniel and David Rispers, were found guilty of assault by a Swedish court on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019, and ordered to pay $1,300 to their 19-year-old victim, Mustafa Jafari. The sum will be split between the trio, while the victim had initially sought $16,000, the New York Times reports.
A$AP Rocky and his friends were arrested in Stockholm, Sweden, in July for their involvement in a fight prior to a music festival and after being found guilty, they were given a suspended prison sentence, Complex reports.
Swedish prosecutors had asked for Rocky to be given a six-month prison sentence, but the rapper will not have to serve any more jail time.
However, he has been ordered by the court to pay a fine to the victim. The verdict comes almost two weeks after Rocky was released from prison and allowed to travel back to the U.S. on Aug. 2.
During the trial, Rocky detailed his side of the “scary” altercation — which left 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari in need of medical treatment — claiming that he and two friends, who were also arrested, were defending themselves.
He told the court: “Everything seemed to be going fine. Next thing I know, my security guard was lifting one of them … [it] got a little scary. We didn’t want to provoke these guys, we just wanted to get away from them. Mustafa was fearless, his eyes were all weird, he came up to a big bodyguard and asked us questions he knew we couldn’t answer. He looked like he was on drugs.”
However, prosecutor Daniel Suneson argued that surveillance footage from a nearby restaurant was changed by the rapper’s team to coincide with his self-defense claim. He claimed that the unedited footage “disproves the use of emergency defense.”
Meanwhile, after his release, A$AP Rocky said his time spent in jail in Sweden was a “humbling experience.”
Speaking as he took to the stage at the 92.3 Real Street Festival at the Honda Centre in Anaheim, California, over the weekend — which was his first performance since leaving Sweden — he said: “I’m so happy to be here right now. That was a scary, humbling experience, but I’m here right now. God is good. You know what I’m saying? People who wouldn’t even f— with me felt sympathy and sympathetic for my situation. People were praying for me. That uplifted me when my spirit was low. I can’t thank y’all enough. That was crazy. Thank you so much.”
And before leaving the stage, the “Praise the Lord” hitmaker sent his thanks to the crowd once again.
He added: “I know y’all were praying for me. Imma need y’all to keep praying for me. Hopefully, with God’s will, I’m not guilty and s—.”
