American top songwriter and producer Robert Sylvester Kelly’s (popularly known as R. Kelly) case has finally come to an end after he was sentenced to 30 years in jail.
The 55-year old was found guilty of racketeering and 8 counts of sex trafficking, which also involved under age girls, in September last year by a court in New York.
Before his sentencing, several of his victims narrated their painful ordeals in the hands of the singer. R. Kelly had faced the mentioned allegations for years.
The court was informed that he used his influence to lure women and children into sexual abuse for over two decades.
During the reading of his sentence, R. Kelly is said to have not shown any reactions and did not make a comment about the same.
US District Judge Ann Donnelly noted that the the disgraced celebrity used “had used sex as a weapon, forcing his victims to do unspeakable things and saddling some with sexually transmitted diseases.”
“You taught them that love is enslavement and violence,” Donnelly said.
Despite that, R. Kelly’s die hard fans are however protesting his jail and demanding his freedom through the #FreeRKelly.
The hashtag is trending thus shocking many who have wondered why they would pity a person who has been found guilty especially of crimes involving under age girls.
In the past, during an emotional interview with CBS, R Kelly denied the allegations saying that he was a victim of conspiracy.
The king of RnB was born in Chicago and he got his first girlfriend, whom he described as a musical inspiration, at the age of 8. At the same time he was sexually abused by an older female relative of his family to the age of 14 years. He also faced sexual abuse from a male family friend when he was just 10 years old. In his biography, he stated that he did not open up about his tribulations because he was too afraid and ashamed.
His music journey began while in high school when he won the first prize after performing in the high school talent show. His music teacher encouraged him to leave the school basketball team and join music. He later dropped out of school after a year after being diagnosed with dyslexia. He however continued performing.
His big break came in 1990 when his music group won a $100,000 grand prize.
Kelly’s disgrace however began in 1994, when he married the late Aaliyah who was only 15 years old then in a secret ceremony. He was 27 at the time. They used a fake ID which indicated that Aaliyah was 18. The marriage was however annulled when Aaliyah’s real age was discovered.
He was later sued in 1996 by the family of Tiffany Hawkins over emotional distress and personal injuries. Tiffany got involved sexually with R. Kelly when she was 15 years in 1991. The case was settled in 1998, when he paid for the damages.
In 2001, R. Kelly’s former intern Tracy Sampson sued him “accusing him of inducing her “into an indecent sexual relationship when she was 17.” She alleged that he would control every aspect of her life. The case was however settled out of court
Between April and May 2002, R. Kelly was sued by two women, one accusing him of impregnating her and forcing her to undergo an abortion. The second victim accused him of videotaping their sexual act without her knowledge. Both cases were settled out of court with the accused paying huge sums of money for damages.
The same year in June, he was charged with 21 counts of child abuse videos. The trial of the case began six years later but was found not guilty after the prosecution failed to prove that the videos involved a minor.
Between 2002-2004 R. Kelly was accused of child abuse and child pornography but the cases were dropped due to lack of sufficient evidence and in 2017 he was accused of trapping 6 women into a sex cult. Families of three women involved reported that their daughters vanished.
In 2017-2018, several women who had been abused by the RnB crooner approached the press and opened up on their tribulations.
Kelly was hit hard when Spotify, Apple and Pandora stopped promoting his music in May 2018. Before that he had been evicted from a house in Atlanta over rent dues.
In 2019, a lifetime documentary dubbed Surviving R. Kelly led to him being charged with sex trafficking charges depicting “an organized effort from the singer and his associates to recruit and transport underage girls over state lines for illegal sexual purposes, including the production of child sex abuse images, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice by destroying evidence and bribing or threatening witnesses.” The documentary came after a related one that had been done by BBC.
In August the same year he was charged prostitution after inviting a 17-year old girl in his hotel room to dance and undress for him at $200 fee.
Kelly was arrested and locked at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Centre in February 2019 and was assaulted by a fellow inmate in 2020 but the court declined to release him on bond.
His trial began in August 2021 and was found guilty in September before his 30-year jail sentence on June 29,2022.
RELATED STORY:Witness Tells Court How She Walked In On R Kelly Performing Oral S3x To Late Singer Aaliyah Who Was On 13 At The Time
