Woman describes frequent sex with R Kelly before she was 18
CHICAGO (AP) — A woman who has been central to R Kelly’s legal troubles for more than two decades testified Thursday that the R&B singer had sex with her “hundreds” of times before she turned 18 years old, starting when she was just 15.
Jane — the pseudonym for the now 37-year-old woman at Kelly’s trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges — told jurors that in the late 1990s when she was 13, she asked the Grammy award-winning singer to be her godfather because she saw him as an inspiration and mentor.
She said within weeks, Kelly would call her and say sexual things. She said he first touched her breasts and other parts of her body when she was around 14 at a Chicago recording studio, and that around that time, he “started penetration” at his North Side Chicago home. She told jurors she was 15 when they first had intercourse.
Asked by a prosecutor how she would know what to do sexually, Jane answered, “He would tell me what to do.” Asked how many times they had sex before she turned 18, she answered quietly: “Uncountable times… hundreds.”
Among the most serious charges the Grammy Award winner faces at the federal trial is conspiracy to obstruct justice by allegedly rigging a 2008 trial on state child pornography charges stemming from the purported video of him and Jane having sex. Among other things, prosecutors say Kelly paid off and threatened Jane to ensure that she didn’t testify at that trial. She didn’t, and he was ultimately acquitted.
Kelly is also standing trial on charges of producing child pornography and enticing minors for sex.
Unlike at the 2008 trial, Jane cooperated with prosecutors leading up to the current trial and is a pivotal witness.
A conviction in Chicago could add decades to a 30-year prison sentence he already received from a New York federal judge this year for convictions on charges that he used his fame to sexually abuse other young fans. Different accusers testified at that trial.