R Kelly's ex-girlfriend tells his sex abuse trial how he forced her to have an abortion as part of his controlling and violent behaviour during five year relationship during which he hit if she disobeyed him
A former girlfriend of R. Kelly told jurors at his sex abuse trial how she suffered through a five-year relationship with the R&B singer and he forced her to have an abortion as part of his controlling behaviour.
Testifying for the prosecution, the woman, known as Jane Doe number five in Kelly's indictment, said the singer regularly checked her cellphone to make sure she did not gossip to friends about their relationship.
She also said on Monday how Kelly 'chastised' her for disobedience, including by spanking her hard enough to leave bruises and tear her skin.
A former girlfriend of R. Kelly told jurors at his sex abuse trial that she suffered through a five-year relationship with the R&B singer during trial at Brooklyn federal court on Monday
'I would get chastised nearly every two or three days,' the woman, who began a relationship with Kelly in 2015 when she was 17, said in Brooklyn federal court.
Now 23, Doe said 54-year-old Kelly, who was 48 at the time his relationship with the witness began, also ordered her to have an abortion she did not want after she got pregnant in 2017.
Doe's testimony for the prosecution comes on the fourth day of Kelly's trial, and last week, a jury heard similar testimony from the trial’s first witness.
She described being a 16-year-old virgin when Kelly began sexually exploiting her in 2010.
The singer has pleaded not guilty to a nine-count racketeering indictment describing his alleged abuse of six women and girls, including the late singer Aaliyah.
Kelly, 54, has pleaded not guilty to a nine-count indictment describing his alleged abuse of six women and girls, including the late singer Aaliyah
Kelly's trial is expected to last several weeks, and he could face life in prison if convicted.
The singer also faces sex-related criminal charges in Illinois and Minnesota. Many accusations of sex-related misconduct were discussed in the 2019 Lifetime documentary 'Surviving R. Kelly.'
Doe testified that she first encountered Kelly at an Orlando festival, where he paid 'a lot of attention' to her during his performance and had a member of his entourage slip her his phone number.
She said she was at the time a high school junior, hoping to have her own singing career.
Doe said she agreed to meet Kelly at a hotel for an audition, but that Kelly would not let her sing until he first performed oral sex on her.
After that encounter, Doe said she began regularly meeting Kelly and having sex with him in different cities, with an assistant for Kelly arranging flights. She said Kelly invariably recorded their sexual encounters on an iPad.
Like other prosecution witnesses, Doe told jurors that Kelly had strict rules, which included getting his permission to do nearly anything - even leaving a room to get food or go to the bathroom.
She also said Kelly demanded that she call him 'Daddy' and kiss him as soon as he walked into a room.
At one point, Doe testified, she was diagnosed with herpes after experiencing pain during sex that 'got worse to the point where I couldn't walk'.
Kelly (pictured in Wednesday court sketch) is accused of getting his victim pregnant and forcing her to have an abortion, as well as hitting her for being disobedient
'I was devastated,' Doe said, breaking down in tears. Doe said she had never been with anyone else and believed Kelly had 'purposely given me something that he knew he had.'
Kelly even joked about herpes, saying 'everyone has it,' Doe testified.
Doe said Kelly first slapped her at the end of the summer of 2015, after she told him she was 17 and had to return to school.
She said Kelly proposed that she attend her senior year remotely, while living with him in Chicago, and that her parents agreed to put her under the care of a woman Kelly knew.
Doe said Kelly became more violent as time wore on, once beating her with a sneaker after he caught her texting a friend about their relationship.
She also said she witnessed Kelly hitting other girlfriends, and that Kelly once forced her to film a video smearing feces on her own face.
THE CHARGES R. KELLY IS ON TRIAL FOR IN NEW YORK:
R. Kelly is standing trial in Brooklyn federal court accused of being the ringleader of a sex ring involving women and underage girls and boys.
The charges were first brought in a five-count superseding indictment in Brooklyn federal court in July 2019.
In March 2020, he was slapped with additional charges upgrading the case to a nine-count indictment.
The charges relate to allegations involving six alleged victims - five women named as Jane Does in the indictment and the singer Aaliyah. These charges are:
ONE COUNT OF RACKETEERING
The racketeering charge includes 14 underlying acts including: one act of bribery, three acts of sexual exploitation of a child, one act of kidnapping, three acts of forced labor and six acts of violating the Mann Act.
Racketeering charges are used where there is an 'enterprise', mob or mafia running organized crime operations.
In this case, Kelly is accused of running a racketeering 'enterprise' for two decades made up of his 'inner circle' of managers, bodyguards and other employees who would help him recruit women, girls and boys for him to sexually exploit and traffic them around the US.
To convict Kelly on the racketeering charge, he must be found guilty of at least two of the 14 acts.
EIGHT COUNTS OF VIOLATING THE MANN ACT
The Mann Act is a federal law that makes it illegal to traffic people across state lines for prostitution or illegal sexual activity.
Four of these charges relate to an incident involving Jane Doe #5 in 2015 while the other four involve Jane Doe #6 in separate incidents in May 2017 and February 2018.
Three of these charges involve Kelly allegedly exposing the two women to herpes without informing them.