Woman Sues Singer; Alleges Rape, Torture : Courts: Plaintiff seeks $15 million from funk singer Rick James, who is facing criminal charges, as is his fiancee.

A woman accusing funk singer Rick James of rape and torture is suing the star for $15 million for emotional and physical damage.

The 24-year-old woman charged in a Superior Court lawsuit filed Friday that James and his 21-year-old fiancee beat, burned and raped her, holding her captive at the star’s North Hollywood home for two days.

The plaintiff said the alleged mayhem and torture was undertaken “to teach (her) a very big lesson” because James believed that she had stolen less than an ounce of crack cocaine from him.

James, 43, and his fiancee, Tanya Ann Hijazi, were arrested Aug. 2 after the woman reported being held hostage July 16 and July 17.

The woman said she was tied up, threatened with a gun and burned on her legs and stomach with a heated crack cocaine pipe. She alleges that she was forced to orally copulate Hijazi while James looked on.

She sought treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and her injuries led hospital workers to notify police. She was left with three leg scars, including one 10 inches long, her lawsuit says.

James and Hijazi were charged with assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated mayhem, torture and forcible oral copulation. James also is charged with making terrorist threats and furnishing cocaine. Both have pleaded innocent and are free on bail.

If convicted, the couple could be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.