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Cape Town – An Australian woman has come forward and accused Die Antwoord singer, Ninja, of sexual assault.
Musician Zheani Sparkes filed a police report in Queensland alleging Ninja, Watkin Tudor Jones, of sexually assaulting her in South Africa six years ago, after which another woman has come forward with a story of sexual assault in Italy in 2014. Watkin has denied both claims, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
According to Zheani, the two connected online – Watkin told her she resembled his daughter Sixteen Jones – but their relationship soon became a romantic one, and the Baby's On Fire singer flew her from Australia to Cape Town.
The 26-year-old says she was starstruck and overwhelmed meeting a musician she so admired – but things seemed off from the beginning.
She tells stories of meeting him at the airport, how he allegedly wanted to have sex right away, and how it eventually happened when he pressured her into doing magic mushrooms.
Zheani alleges the two returned to their accommodation where they were staying in Knysna, and as soon as they got back Watkin forced himself on her, choking her while doing so. He passed out, and when he woke up 30 seconds later, she says he had no recollection of what had happened.
"I was just in shock", she recalled. "I wouldn't discuss it. I might be young, naive, dumb, but I knew what had just happened, but I didn't know how to address it, and I didn't feel safe to address it."
The aspiring musician returned home to Australia and said she went into a depression. The emails from Watkin didn't stop though – he always tried to get her to talk about what happened and come out on tour with the group. She said she did, but she never found closure until channeling what happened into her music with the release of her song, The Question.
Yolandi Vi$$er addressed the rumours in March calling Zheani's account an "insane story" on Instagram.
"This was 5 or 6 years ago and now she comes creeping out the woodwork, with this mental story she’s made up in her head to try launch a music career. This is a typical case of Clout Chasing (google that shit).(sic)," she wrote in a since deleted Instagram post.
The Italian-American singer, Jade Carroll that also came forward said she felt encouraged to after hearing Zheani's song though, saying she believed the singer.
"I knew that for sure she was telling the truth because there was one specific phrase that I knew for a fact that would only come out of a person that would spend time with Ninja.
"He told me that I am beautiful and that I am very similar to his daughter."
The accusations come after a string of controversies surrounding the rap group. After footage emerged online of them making racist and homophobic remarks, they were recently dropped from multiple music festivals.
They also just announced they'd be postponing their entire House of Zef tour to the US until 2020.
In a statement to The Sun-Herald via his publicist, Watkin reportedly said he couldn't believe that the media would spend time pursuing "these wild and unsubstantiated stories from people who have an obvious agenda" against him.
Compiled by Bashiera Parker (Sources: The Sydney Morning Herald, Wat Kyk Jy, Channel24)
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