DETROIT – Local singer Nasser Mohamad Bazzi, who goes by the stage name Nasser Habib, was sentenced to a minimum of 11 years and a maximum of 22 years in prison on Thursday, Dec. 19 for criminal sexual conduct involving his niece, who was a minor at the time the incidents occurred. 

Bazzi’s sentencing hearing took place at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice before Judge Lawrence Talon. The courtroom was packed with family members who were divided between those in support of Bazzi, and those in support of the victim whose name is not being disclosed because of the sensitive nature of the case. 

Bazzi’s Attorney Cyril Hall said it would be unlikely for his client to serve more than the 11-year minimum prison sentence, and that plans to appeal the conviction are already underway. 

Bazzi is accused of molesting his niece by penetrating her genitals with his fingers when she was under the age of 16. 

On Dec. 5, a jury found Bazzi guilty of sexual conduct against his niece. 

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office issued a warrant on June 13 for Bazzi’s arrest, after his niece had made the accusations. At the time, he was arrested and released on bond. 

Beginning Nov. 25, a jury was sworn in front of Judge Talon and heard evidence from both prosecutors and Hall over the span of two weeks.  

Left, Nasser Mohamed Bazzi aka Nasser Habib, and defense attorneys Amir Makled and Cyril Hall at a sentencing hearing before Judge Lawrence Talon, on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013. PHOTOS: Natasha Dado/TAAN

The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all six charges, after deliberating for almost six hours.  The jury found Bazzi guilty on two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, and two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree. 

In addition to his prison sentence, Bazzi is required to pay fines, one of which includes  $600 in court costs. He was also ordered to register under the Sexual Offenders Registration Act. 

Amir Makled, a defense attorney on the case who worked alongside Hall and presented arguments in court Thursday, says there was evidence going in favor of Bazzi’s innocence that was never considered.  

Makled said some of that evidence would have changed the outcome of the trial completely. “We feel the judge prevented us from presenting a full and fair trial for Mr. Bazzi,” he said. 

Judge Talon says one reason he didn’t allow some evidence to be reviewed by the jury was because he thought it wasn’t “relevant.”

In court, Hall pointed out that the victim’s husband was also previously accused of criminal sexual conduct, and that it was public information. Hall says several people in the woman’s family objected to her marrying her husband because of his background. 

Letters were written in defense of Bazzi by some family members. 

“All the accusations, first of all, they were false, and there are facts to prove that. There was no evidence for the case to begin with anyways to prove all six counts. It was all a he said-she-said,” Mohamed Bazzi, a nephew of the defendant says. 

Community members packed the courtroom and were divded between those who support Bazzi and the alleged victim.

The victim has five sisters and two brothers. All of her siblings have taken Bazzi’s side except one of the brothers. Her parents have also sided with Bazzi.  

The victim gave an emotional statement in court. Speaking openly she said,  “Yes, I have no father, no mother and just one brother, but listen Nasser that only makes me stronger. I would rather have one family member that I can trust rather than having a sea of family members who don’t care about my well- being.”  

Mohamad Bazzi says at the time of the incidents 11 people were living in the victim’s house, where the molestation occurred.  

“This has not only torn the family apart, it has torn the community apart,” Mohamed Bazzi said. He claims the victim changed her story repeatedly, because the prosecution had stated that initially there wasn’t enough evidence to have the case go to trial. 

“When the report was written, it was changed four times,” Mohamed Bazzi said.  

The Arab American News did reach out to a few family members who came to court in support of the victim, but they all declined to comment. 

“There are a lot of people in the family who will vouch for what kind of man he is, so I know that one day justice will be served and the truth will come out because she will forever have a conscious and she has a little boy, to put a man in prison that has a son too. He is going to live without his dad. He’s nine months old. I would never stand by a man who would commit such acts. Nasser is the kind of person who can’t even talk about these kinds of things. He can’t even speak about stuff like that, yet alone act on them,” said Amna Sultan, Nasser’s wife. 

During the hearing, the prosecution asked the judge to take into consideration that the women’s reputation had been tainted in the community, and pointed to the Facebook page Dearborn Area Community Members as proof of that. The prosecution said some of the comments made on the page show that damage had been done to the woman’s name. 

 “I was a child when Nasser Bazzi violated me, and after that day my whole life changed forever. He’s been in prison for two weeks and he has probably spent them hating me rather than acknowledging what he did….I will not take responsibility for putting Nasser Bazzi in jail. What I will take responsibility for is saving a future victim,” she said. 

She added that at one point Bazzi was like a father to her.  

“I was a little girl who had her whole life ahead of her. Until today, I am still consumed by all of the acts he did to me,” she said.  

“I am not the person I dreamed I would be because of you, and you don’t even care. You looked back at me after you heard the verdict of the jury, and you stared me down like it was my fault you were sitting in that chair.”  

 “I was dying a slow painful death for years and no one would come to my rescue.  What was going on through your mind when you touched your niece in a sexual manner, you are somebody who needs to be locked up for the rest of your life because you are a sick man who will never own up to what he did. I hope that you never walk the streets again because no one around you will ever be safe,” she said. 

Community members became emotional throughout the hearing. One woman walked out of the courtroom crying once the victim started reading her statement. 

The victim said she would move forward   and not think about the pain and heartache that she was put through, in order to concentrate on her future with her husband and son. 

The judge said it took a tremendous amount of courage for her to testify in court in front of the jury and in front of her family. 

Talon added that the alleged victim was not the one who came forward with the accusations, and that it was one of her brothers who had initially went to police to report the incident after agonizing over it for years. 

“She showed amazing strength,” the judge said. 

After the sentencing hearing was over, community members who came to court in support of the victim were asked to leave first, and those who came in defense of Bazzi were allowed to leave 20 minutes after to avoid any potential altercations after the tension-filled proceeding.