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Anand Jon sentenced to 59 years: Sister threatens hunger-strike |
Sanjana Jon, sister of celebrity fashion
designer Anand Jon has appealed to the Government of India to intervene in the case of
her brother, failing which she would go on hunger-strike. On Monday, Los Angeles
Superior Court sentenced Anand Jon to 59 years in prison for sexually assaulting
aspiring models as young as 14 years in age. Sanajana said that she would observe
a hunger strike, if her pleas for help at the inter-governmental level were not
paid heed to. "My appeal is for intervention and I have said if I don't get any
help, my only resort, last resort would be to sit on a hunger strike till my voice
is heard," said Sanjana Jon. In Bangalore, Anand Jon's fashion designer friend
and stage artiste, Prasad Bidappa expressed sorrow at the American court's judgement.
"Anand Jon case, I find particularly sad because I feel he was truly a very good
talent; somebody who, I think, was taking India's torch forward in terms of fashion.
I feel very sad that it had to come to an end like this," said Prasad Bidappa.
Last November, thirty five-year-old Jon was found guilty of 16 counts, including
rape, sexual battery and performing lewd acts on a child. Los Angeles Superior
Court Judge David Wesley sentenced Jon to 59 years to life after denying his motions
for a new trial. Prosecutors said the crimes started in 2001 when Jon set up a
fashion design business through which he lured would-be models to Los Angeles.
Later, the police got involved in March 2007 after a woman said she was sexually
assaulted at his Beverly Hills apartment. Jon, whose full name is Anand Jon Alexander,
denied the charges. His lawyers said the girls and young women were revenge seekers
who had made up their stories or who had 'invited what happened', and that in
the case, there had been least physical evidence. The India-born designer was
profiled on the TV show 'America's Next Top Model' in 2003 and selected by Newsweek
magazine as one of the world's most successful South Asians in 2004.
The designer's mother Shashi Jon said, "He is not capable of doing
anything like this.This was beyond my belief that Anand has been taken in and
arrested on charges of molestation". Their family's lawyer Majid Memon said, "It is very sad
that this young boy, a celebrity from India, has to be left like this and being
now convicted and sentenced to suffer for the whole of his life." Times Now quoted
Memon as saying that all the girls alleging rape or molestation don't have a "scratch
on their body to suggest that there was any resistance or any violence by the
accused. Moreover, the complaints have been lodged weeks and even months after
the incidents. So definitely this is a very dubious kind of a charge and unfortunately
Anand was left alone and there was hardly any help. Jon's mother and sister will
now move for an appeal," Memon said. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley
today announced that Jon must serve 14 years in state prison -- before he begins
to serve a 45-year-to-life sentence. The designer has been featured on the television
show "America's Next Top Model" and worked with such celebrities as Paris Hilton
and Mary J Blige.
London: India-born Anand Jon Alexander has been jailed for a minimum of 59 years for sexually assaulting aspiring models. The 35-year old lured models to his flat with promises of work. He was found guilty to 16 sex crimes at a trial in November. His victims, some
of whom gave evidence in court, ranged in age from 14 to 21, reports Sky News.
Alexander preyed on a string of girls and women over a six-year period from 2002
to 2007, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Alexander often found women online,
baited them with promises of glamorous photoshoots and other modelling work, only
to assault or rape them at his Beverly Hills apartment. The designer was featured
on the US television show America's Next Top Model.
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