A woman who has been at the center of R. Kelly‘s legal troubles for more than two decades testified Thursday that the singer sexually assaulted her “hundreds” of times before she turned 18, starting when she was 15.
Jane, the pseudonym for the woman who testified at Kelly’s trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges, told the jury that in the late 1990s, when she was 13, she asked the Grammy Award winner to be her godfather because she saw him as an inspiration and a mentor.
She said that within weeks, Kelly started calling her and saying sexual things to her. She stated that he first touched her breasts and other parts of her body when she was about 14 years old in a Chicago recording studio, and that around that time he “began penetration” at her home. in North Chicago.
A woman testified R. Kelly raped her hundreds of times before she was 18, with abuse starting when she was 14.
She is the first survivor to testify at his Chicago trial for alleged sex crimes and obstruction of justice. He is already serving 30 years on sex trafficking charges. pic.twitter.com/jwO0JmJqLw
— AJ+ (@ajplus) August 18, 2022
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She told the jury that she was 15 years old when they first had sex. Kelly would have been close to 30 years old at the time. Asked by a prosecutor how she knew what to do sexually, Jane replied, “He told me what to do”. Asked how many times they had sex before they were 18, she replied, “Countless times…hundreds”.
Kelly is serving a 30-year sentence on federal charges that he used his fame to sexually abuse fans and obstructing justice by allegedly arranging a 2008 trial on child pornography charges stemming from an alleged video of him and Jane having sex. sex when she was a minor.
Prosecutors say Kelly paid and threatened Jane to make sure she didn’t testify at that trial. She did not, and finally the singer was acquitted. However, Jane cooperated with prosecutors prior to the current trial and is a critical witness.
