Jon's sister, mother say he has been victimised

Reacting with dismay to the 59-year sentence handed over to Indian American Anand Jon by a US court for sexually assaulting aspiring models, his sister and their family lawyer today said the fashion designer has been victimised and facts have been overlooked in the case.

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".

Defending 35-year-old Anand, his sister Sanjana said, "The fact that Anand is an Indian citizen and that he is being victimised is completely overlooked. So there is nobody questioning anything that we are facing there."

"Every piece of evidence that is medical shows that nothing ever happened. There is no medical evidence that showed that anything ever happened," she told TV channels.

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."

Memon said 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.

"The two women - his mother and sister - were helplessly struggling to get justice and I am sure that they would now move for an appeal," he added.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley on Tuesday 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.