R&B singer R Kelly will return to a criminal court on Wednesday for the opening statements in his long-anticipated federal trial over allegations he sexually abused women and girls.
The musician has been trailed for decades by complaints about his sexual behaviour, including a 2002 child pornography case in Chicago, for which he was acquitted in 2008. In recent years, scrutiny intensified amid the #MeToo movement, emboldening multiple alleged victims to come forward with accusations against the Grammy award-winning singer.
The women’s stories received wide exposure through the documentary Surviving R Kelly, which explored how an entourage of supporters silenced his victims for decades, foreshadowing a federal racketeering conspiracy case that landed in Kelly in jail in 2019.
Now, prosecutors in Brooklyn have lined up multiple female accusers – as well as cooperating former associates – who have never spoken publicly about their experiences with Kelly.
The trial, which has been delayed due to the pandemic, is due to hear their testimony about how Kelly’s managers, bodyguards and other employees allegedly helped him recruit women, girls and boys for sexual exploitation.In 2019, R Kelly arrives at the Leighton Criminal Court building for an arraignment on sex-related felonies in Chicago. Credit: AP
The accusers claim the group selected victims at concerts and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly, 54, in violation of the Mann Act, a law that prohibits the transportation of any woman or girl across state lines “for any immoral purpose”.
Upon arrival at their lodgings, the women and girls had to follow strict rules, including needing permission to eat or go to the toilet and having to call Kelly ‘Daddy’, prosecutors allege.
Countering the claims, defence lawyers have said the singer’s alleged victims were ‘groupies’ who turned up at his shows and made it known they “were dying to be with him”.
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is perhaps best known for his smash hit I Believe I Can Fly, a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations and weddings.
An anonymous jury made up of seven men and five women have been sworn in for the trial, which will unfold under coronavirusprecautions restricting the press and the public to overflow courtrooms with video feeds.
The New York case is only part of the legal peril facing the singer, who has also has pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
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