(Trigger warning: Witness accounts of sexual abuse, grooming)
R&B singer R Kelly was found guilty on all counts in his federal court trail on Monday. The charges range from racketeering and sex trafficking to grooming minors. During the trial, that lasted more than five weeks, 11 witnesses, who had accused Kelly of abuse and mistreatment, took the stand. He will be sentenced on 4 May and faces 10 years to life in prison.
Kelly has been found guilty on eight Mann Act counts. The Mann Act criminalises the transport of people for "any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense."
Several witnesses described Kelly as controlling and violent. Kelly’s accusers recounted instances of abuse and many said that he engaged in sexual activity with them when they were minors; some of them were 17.
Three witnesses, including one named ‘Jane Doe No. 5’ in Kelly’s indictment also accused Kelly of giving them an STD, which they said he was legally required to disclose but didn’t.
The victims also recounted instances where Kelly controlled their daily activities, and one witness recalled being punished if she didn’t ‘address him quickly enough’ if he entered a room. Other witnesses also recount being penalised for not following ‘his rules’. Some women alleged that they were ‘forced’ to write false confessions.
A man, Louis (pseudonym) said that he met Kelly in 2006 when he was a teen, and the singer invited him home. Another man, using the pseudonym Alex, accused Kelly of ‘forcibly’ kissing him and saying, “Just be open-minded.”
R Kelly's Illegal Marriage to Late R&B Singer Aaliyah
During the trial, Kelly’s former tour manager Demetrius Smith alleged that Kelly ‘bribed’ a welfare-clerk to issue a fake ID to late R&B singer Aaliyah. Smith said he had reservations about Kelly’s relationship with Aaliyah but Kelly denied any wrongdoing.
Kelly, then 27, illegally married Aaliyah in August 1994, when she was 15. Aaliyah once told an interviewer, "We're close and people took it the wrong way." Their marriage was annulled in 1995.
In the documentary Surviving R Kelly, Demetrius said, “That's the way it was. We worked for him. This is what he wanted and so this is what we were supposed to give him."
Individual Allegations Against Kelly
Tiffany Hawkins, a high school student at the time, was the first to sue Kelly in 1996 for $10 million. She claimed that Kelly and her began engaging in sexual activity in 1991, the Chicago Sun Times reported in 2000. She was only 15 (underage) and Kelly was 24.
Hawkins demanded $10 million compensation but allegedly withdrew her case after accepting $250,000 in 1998.
The next woman to sue Kelly in 2001 was Tracy Sampson who alleged that under the laws of Illinois, their sexual activity was illegal. She also said that the lawsuit was settled for $250,000 in 2002, reported the New York Post.
Two more women sued Kelly in 2002. Patrice Jones of Chicago sued Kelly in April 2002, who alleged that Kelly made her pregnant when she was a minor and that she was coerced into an abortion.
The other woman was Montina Woods, who sued Kelly in May 2002, accusing him of videotaping her having sex with him without her knowing about it.
Both cases were settled after Kelly paid them undisclosed amounts of money in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), BBC reported.
Then in 2017, Jerhonda Pace broke her NDA and accused Kelly of having a sexual relationship with her when she was only 16 and paid her to see quiet, Buzzfeed reported.
In the same year, Kitti Jones accused Kelly of starving her and assaulting her, forcing her into sexual acts with other women, the New York reported.
Other Allegations and Court Inquiries
In June 2002, Kelly was charged with 21 counts of making child pornography and committing and videotaping sexual encounters with a minor girl born in 1984.
Since the jury could not prove that the girl was a minor, Kelly was acquitted of all charges in 2008.
Then in July 2017, Kelly was accused of seducing young girls who he would eventually trap into his 'sex cult', Buzzfeed reported.
The new documentary mentioned above brought raw testimonies from the many women he had abused in the past, and recordings of parents trying to find and save their daughters who had disappeared for years.
It also led to the charges that have indicted Kelly today.
R Kelly's Lawyer Says They Will Be Appealing
R Kelly was charged in relation to six women: Jerhonda Pace, Jane, Stephanie, Sonja, Faith, and Aaliyah, according to a report in Vulture.
“Of course Mr Kelly is disappointed. He was not anticipating this verdict,” Kelly’s defense lawyer Devereaux Cannick said to reporters outside the courthouse. He also accused the government of ‘cherry-picking’ a version of the narrative. Cannick added that they will be appealing.
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