East Flatbush

Brooklyn ‘spiritual leader’ indicted for raping two women

October 10, 2018 By Christina Carrega Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Brooklyn Supreme Court. Eagle file photo
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A self-proclaimed spiritual leader was indicted on Wednesday for luring two women to his East Flatbush home for a church ceremony where he raped them, prosecutors said.

Nigel Kennedy, 51, used a religious goods store he owned nearby his home as a hoax to dupe two women, on two separate occasions, into his home.

When the women entered his East 52nd St. apartment (one on Aug. 29, 2016, and the other on May 16, 2018), Kennedy started chanting and pouring a clear liquid that purportedly tasted like alcohol into his victim’s mouths until they lost consciousness, then raped them.

According to charges in the 13-count indictment, when the alleged 2018 victim, 28, regained consciousness, her pants were off and Kennedy was having sex with her, prosecutors said. She tried to fight him off of her body and told him to stop. Kennedy allegedly refused and allegedly told the woman to “Relax, it’s a part of the ritual.”

Almost two years before Kennedy sexually assaulted the 28-year-old woman, he allegedly did the same thing to a 42-year-old woman in 2016. When the older woman woke up naked on a bed the following day, Kennedy told her that he didn’t know how she got like that, prosecutors said.

After both incidents, the women went to the hospital where sexual assault evidence collection kits were conducted. The DNA matched Kennedy, prosecutors said.

The younger victim was able to identify Kennedy to the police who arrested him at the airport as he arrived from Trinidad, prosecutors said.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice William Miller set bail at $35,000 and ordered Kennedy back to court on Dec. 11. If Kennedy is convicted of the top charge of first-degree rape, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

 

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is urging others who may have encountered Kennedy to contact the DA’s Action Center at 718-250-2340.

 

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