As the R, Kelly trial closes its first week, a variety of truths from witnesses and testimony reveal a pattern of alleged sexual abuse and control of people who initially admired the award-winning singer/songwriter, especially young girls. One testimony revealed that Kelly married teen singer Aaliyah and then had her get an abortion when she got pregnant.
According to the Huffington Post, Kelly considered himself a genius like Jerry Lee Lewis and that entitled him to do avoid persecution as well as prosecution.
“’He’s a genius and I’m a genius. We should be allowed to do whatever we want,’” recalled the third “Jane Doe” to take the stand in the singer’s sex abuse trial.
The third Jane Doe, identified as Stephanie, testified Thursday that R. Kelly initiated a sexual relationship with her during the “toughest time of her life” when she was 17, in the federal trial against the singer.
Stephanie, now 39, said she met Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, when she was 16 at what’s referred to as the “Rock ’n’ Roll” McDonalds in Chicago during the summer of 1998. She was there on a double date with her boyfriend and two friends. Under direct examination, she told Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Shihata that she was standing at the cash register by herself when one of Kelly’s assistants approached her.
In her testimony at the Brooklyn Federal Court Building, she said that he asked her age and if she knew who R. Kelly was. When she said yes, he pointed to him and she saw that the singer, who was 32 at the time, was staring at her.
“He gave me a phone number and said it was Robert Kelly’s phone number,” she told the courtroom. Stephanie returned to her friends and boyfriend at the time, and they all laughed when she told them what happened, she said.
Stephanie testified that during her first or second time at the studio, where they eventually agreed to meet, she told him that she was 17. Though she thought that meant the end of their relationship, she said he told her it was “fine.”
Kelly wanted her to call him “Daddy.” She said their relationship lasted about six months and she saw him six to eight times a month, mostly at the studio. She said that he “orchestrated” their encounters, instructing her to make certain sounds or stay in certain positions. There were times when he would tell her to undress and stay in a certain position “for hours” while she was “waiting there for him to come and have his way.”
She said it was “humiliating.”
In the Brooklyn trial, Kelly is facing federal charges of racketeering and violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits taking a minor across state lines for prostitution. He has denied the charges.
