Olomide charged with assault and battery, detained in Kinshasa jail

Embattled Congolese musician, Koffi Olomide, has been detained under a provisional arrest warrant after he was arrested in his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kinshasa police chief General Celestin Kanyama confirmed the musician’s arrest to AFP adding that he was going to be interrogated by a prosecutor.

“Koffi is charged with assault and battery, disturbing public order and other offenses”, a senior judge told AFP on condition of anonymity. He is expected to reappear in court in five days.

Inmates at the Makala prisons where Olomide is expected to be detained were thrilled at having such a high profile personality in their midst, a prison source told AFP adding that the musician would however be held at a section of the jail reserved for notables.

Reports from the DRC indicate that calls for Olomide’s arrest and trial were championed by a Congressman Zakarie Bababaswe, who filed a petition on behalf of the Congolese public to have the musician punished for assault.

Olomide last Friday was filmed kicking a female back up dancer at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). He was subsequently arrested on instructions of Kenya’s police chief after the assault video went viral on social media.

The Rhumba legend subsequently spent Friday night in JKIA cells before he was deported on Saturday morning to the DRC. News about him on Monday centered on a show in Zambia being cancelled because of the weekend controversy plus an apology he rendered via Facebook admitting that the assault furore was a “moment of madness.”