VILE ABUSE
Disgraced singer R Kelly guilty of child sex crimes after filming himself abusing girl, 14
CONVICTED sex offender R Kelly has been found guilty of child sex crimes after he filmed himself abusing a 14-year-old girl.
The disgraced R&B singer, 55, was convicted of six out of 13 charges including producing child pornography, enticing girls for sex and rigging his 2008 trial.
3
3
R Kelly - real name Robert Sylvester Kelly - is already serving a prison sentence after he was of racketeering and sex trafficking last September.
Kelly was convicted of three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticement of a minor.
The three-time Grammy Award-winner was acquitted by a federal jury of seven other counts, including charges that he obstructed justice in a previous trial.
The 12-person jury took around 11 hours over two days to deliver the verdicts, which could add additional decades in prison to the 30 years Kelly is already serving.
READ MORE ON WORLD NEWS
Kelly and his longtime business manager Derrel McDavid were accused of fixing Kelly's 2008 trial by tampering with witnesses.
Kelly's former manager, Derrel McDavid, and an ex-employee, Milton "June" Brown, were tried alongside the singer in the latest trial and were also acquitted of obstruction charges.
A minor victim declined to testify in the 2008 trial because of alleged threats and bribes, but the now 37-year-old woman took the witness stand this time.
The US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, John Lausch said: "The damage Mr. Kelly inflicted on his victims is immeasurable.
Most read in The Sun
"I want to thank the victims for their strength, perseverance and courage in coming forward to testify at trial."
Excerpts from videos depicting sexual abuse by Kelly of girls as young as 14 were played for the jury during the trial.
Prosecutors said a videotape showed Mr. Kelly sexually abusing and urinating on a 14-year-old girl.
One of the prosecutors, Elizabeth Pozolo, said: “Robert Kelly abused many girls over many years.
“He committed horrible crimes against children, and he didn’t do it alone.”
Another three women testified saying Kelly sexually abused them when they were minors.
No sentencing date was immediately set. Kelly faces 10 to 90 years in prison for these new convictions, Lausch's office said in a statement.
Asked by reporters later outside court how Kelly felt after the verdict, his lead attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said: "Mr. Kelly is used to bad news.
"He's still got many fights to fight. But what he did say is that he had a sense of relief that this particular case was in the past now."
Kelly also faces various state charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
R Kelly was found guilty of nine charges against him including bribery, forced labor, kidnapping, exploitation of a child, racketeering and sexual trafficking across state lines last year.
During the trial, several accusers testified in lurid detail, alleging that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
The court heard how his victims - some as young as 14 when he abused them - were choked, beaten, and told to consume their bodily fluids.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Read More on The Sun
His guilty verdict came more than ten years after being acquitted of child pornography charges at an state trial.
In 2002, Kelly was indicted on child pornography charges but was acquitted in 2008 at a trial in .
3
Topics