R Kelly has come face to face with several of his victims in court, listening as they condemned his “minorable” abuse and describing him as “the R&B flutist” before his conviction.
Kelly was found guilty of trafficking and extortion following a high-profile sexual abuse trial in New York in September 2021.
At its sentencing hearing Wednesday, the court heard impact statements from seven women, presented anonymously as “Jane Does,” who confronted the singer dishonored by her “God-like complex” and said she was use “fame and power” to lure their victims. .
Warning: This article contains graphic content and details about sexual abuse
Dressed in a black mask and a gray prison uniform, after being detained since 2019, the 55-year-old looked ahead as he read his emotions.
“The R&B flutist, both in music and in technique and approach,” said a woman who used the pseudonym Angela as she addressed him in the courtroom. “Success and love … you presented these shining jewels as if they were gold.
“With each incorporation of a new victim you grew in wickedness, arrogant, diminishing any form of humanity or self-awareness, which soon became the breeding ground for your God-like complex.
“You were doing, saying and encouraging despicable things that no one else should do. We claim our names under the shadows of your afflicted trauma.”
Another woman told Kelly, “You’re an abuser, you’re shameless, you’re disgusting.”
What happened during the trial?
Several accusers and witnesses – men and women – had testified against the singer during his trial, and the court learned how he subjected his victims to perverse and sadistic abuse when they were minors.
Once one of the world’s biggest music stars, a three-time Grammy winner, whose hits include I Believe I Can Fly, Bump ‘N’ Grind and Ignition, he finally unveiled the complete horror of some of his crimes.
Image: Gloria Allred, photographed out of court before the hearing, depicts some of the victims
Real-name Robert Sylvester Kelly, had denied all charges, his lawyers called his accusers “disgruntled groups” and said they were lying, arguing that any “relationship” was consensual.
However, the jury believed the survivors. Kelly was found guilty of the nine charges filed against him – one charge of extortion and eight counts of violating a law banning the transportation of people across state borders for prostitution.
Amid multiple sordid allegations, jurors heard testimony about a fraudulent marriage scheme created to protect Kelly after she feared she had impregnated R&B artist Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15 years old.
Prosecutors had argued before the sentencing hearing that he should spend more than 25 years in prison, saying he showed a “bloody disregard” for his victims and showed no remorse.
But Kelly’s lawyers said she didn’t deserve more than 10 years, the mandatory minimum, arguing that her history as an abused child could have led to her adult “hypersexuality” and saying she no longer poses a risk to the public. .
They have said he plans to appeal the sentence.
Read more: Key Complaints Heard During TrialR Kelly: A Chronology of Abuse. Everyone knew the claims: why did it take 30 years to do justice?
One of the victims, whom Kelly sexually assaulted when she was 17, leading to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, told the singer that being abused was not an excuse for her crimes.
“Robert, you destroyed the lives of so many people,” he said.
Another told the court, “As a teenager, I didn’t know how to say no to R Kelly when he asked me to give him oral sex.
Then he paused and said to Kelly, “Do you remember?”
Kelly is also facing a second trial in Chicago in August that could see additional convictions and jail time. In this case, he is accused of possessing child pornography and obstruction of justice.