On Wednesday, June 29, Brooklyn Federal Court sentenced famous singer R. Kelly (real name Robert Sylvester Kelly) to 30 years in prison. The trial of the 55-year-old “king of rhythm and blues”, as the musician was sometimes called earlier, lasted several months. Kelly was found guilty of a number of sexual offenses that he committed over the decades.
Accusations against the singer were made by 11 women of all ages. The prosecutor called more than 40 people as witnesses. They all said terrible things about Kelly. It turned out that he and his assistants had been looking for girls, and sometimes boys, among the musician’s numerous admirers for years. Young fans were promised the opportunity to live with their idol for a while. As a result, teenagers fell into genuine sexual slavery.
Kelly treated the victims harshly. He forbade them to freely communicate with relatives and friends, to leave the house without permission. The girls were forced to wear baggy clothes in public. The singer punished the guilty. He used both physical and psychological violence. Sometimes the beating seemed to his “slave” a mild punishment. Kelly usually locked those who displeased him for several days in a room, depriving him of food.
Witnesses said that the performer of the popular hit I Believe I Can Fly often compared himself to the legendary Jerry Lee Lewis. One of the best singers in the history of rock and roll in the 50s of the last century married a 13-year-old cousin. Lewis has publicly stated that he sees nothing wrong with a grown man wanting to have sex with minors.
Kelly followed in the footsteps of his idol. In the mid-90s, he became the producer of the 15-year-old singer and actress Aliya, wrote songs for her. It was later revealed that he made her his mistress. To hush up the scandal, Robert gave a $500 bribe to a city hall official who issued a marriage certificate between Kelly and Alia, although this was illegal.
Aliya died in a plane crash in August 2001. She was then only 22 years old.
After her death, Kelly went to the grave. He needed more and more underage mistresses. They tried to prosecute him several times, but the singer avoided justice. In 2008, he was accused of producing and distributing child pornography, but even then he failed to put the “king of rhythm and blues” behind bars.
Lawyers tried in the current process to convince the jury that Kelly himself received severe psychological trauma in childhood. His own sexual experience at a young age turned him from a victim into a hunter. He needs psychiatric help, not imprisonment. However, attempts by the defense to file the case in this way failed.
Earlier reported that in New York, the court sentenced Ghislaine Maxwell, a former assistant and girlfriend of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. She was given 20 years in prison for corrupting minors.
Source: Fakty
