NEW YORK (AP) – It was an unsuspected radio station in 2003 when it followed what it believed would be a professional interview with an R&B superstar: R. Kelly.
Instead, she had a horrible experience while locked in a darkened room for days; he has now testified years later in terrible detail. He said he still lives with a firm belief that he was drugged and raped by Kelly while he was unconscious.
“I was sexually assaulted,” the woman told jurors Thursday at the trial against Kelly’s sex trafficking. “It wasn’t something I invited.”
The witness, who testified without using her real name, became the last of a series of prosecutors to take the testimony against Kelly since the trial began in New York City on May 18. ‘August.
Kelly, 54, has repeatedly denied allegations that he ran a criminal company that sexually exploited women, girls and even boys during a 30-year career highlighted by his anthem “I Believe I Can Fly.” His lawyers have portrayed his accusers as groups lying about their relationship with him.
Publicly recounting her experience with Kelly for the first time, the former radio fellow said she was a 21-year-old single mother from Salt Lake City when she got nervous about approaching Kelly’s entourage over an interview.
“It would have been my first big interview with celebrities,” said the witness, who is now 39 years old. “I thought I would start my career.”
She was invited to fly to Chicago and meet Kelly at her “Chocolate Factory” music studio, all paid for by the Grammy-winning recording artist. There, she was greeted by someone who made her sign a non-disclosure agreement, demanded personal information about her family and surprised her by asking if she “needed protection,” specifically, a condom, she stated.
“No, I’m not here for that,” he replied.
She was told to wait alone for Kelly in a windowless room. When he tried to get out, he discovered that the door was locked from the outside and that, after knocking on the door unanswered, he needed Kelly’s permission to go to the bathroom or anywhere else, he said.
“I was scared. It embarrassed me. It embarrassed me,” he said.
The witness stated that two days passed before they finally gave him something to eat: Chinese takeaway food and a soda. After a few bites and sips from his meal, he fainted on a couch, he said.
He woke up when someone had taken off all his clothes and felt “wet things” between his legs and thighs, he said. She also saw Kelly in the corner throwing her pants, she said, making it clear that she had assaulted him.
Kelly left the room, saying she would be back soon, she said, the last time she saw him. He said it looked like a few days had passed before he was given a flight home.
He said that on leaving the studio, an employee warned him to keep his mouth shut about what had happened. In the way it was said, “Don’t be fooled by Mr. Kelly.” He took it as a potential threat to his son and family.
As he has done with other prosecutors, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick insisted on the testimony as to why it took him several years to come forward with his charges. He also noted his admission that he had a cell phone when he alleged it was locked in the room.
“Did you call 911? After being raped, do you think you didn’t call 911? “Deveraux asked in an interrogation.
“That’s right,” he replied.
The woman’s allegations resulted in a kidnapping charge that was contained in a racket charge against Kelly that kept him in jail since 2019. He alleges that “along with other people, he consciously confined an individual and intentionally ”that the document only identified as“ Jane ”. Doe “.
Another woman who testified Thursday was someone who appeared in a sequel to a much-watched documentary series: “Surviving R. Kelly.” – who portrayed him as a sexual predator. She has described having a tumultuous relationship with him, but has not directly accused him of any crime.
The government, on the other hand, was trying to use it to corroborate the testimony of other accusers that Kelly used her hands and other disciplines to keep the women she allegedly exploited in the queue for months or years.
“At first it was fun,” she said of her time with him. However, she said, she later became a “controller.”