R&B singer R. Kelly leaves the Leighton Criminal Court Building after a hearing in Chicago, Illinois on June 26, 2019.
Photo: Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP
Trigger warning: This article contains detailed information on sexual assault and abuse.
- A woman identified as Sonia is the latest victim to testify against R. Kelly in court on Thursday.
- If convicted of all charges of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, the singer will face 10 years to life imprisonment.
- The plaintiff told the court that Kelly locked her in a room and left her hungry for several days before giving her food.
- She said she passed out and when she woke up again, the singer was adjusting her pants and she felt that she had been sexually abused.
About two decades ago, R. Kelly sexually assaulted a woman in his Chicago studio and locked her up without food and water. The woman testified on Thursday in the R&B singer’s sexual abuse trial. .
The woman who identified herself as Sonya told jurors in the Brooklyn Federal Court that she had been kept in a locked room in the Kelly Chocolate Factory studio for at least two days in 2003.
Sonia said that after she was finally allowed to eat, she became “very full” after taking a few bites and “feeling something is coming” before going to bed.
She said Kelly was adjusting his pants when she woke up, and recalled that there was “wet stuff” between her legs and on her thighs.
“It makes me think something happened to me,” Sonia said when asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez. “I know my body… I was sexually touched.”
During cross-examination, Kelly’s lawyer Dvoro Kannick questioned why Sonia did not immediately call the police or go to the doctor, but waited until the 2019 lifelong documentary. The surviving R. Kelly It described Kelly’s other alleged abuses.
Sonia later told Melendez that she thought no one would believe her, and she had always been afraid of Kelly.
Kelly is 54 years old and his full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly (Robert Sylvester Kelly). He pleaded not guilty to nine criminal charges because he carried out a number of crimes with the help of someone he hired. A ten-year blackmail scheme targeting women and girls.
The indictment described Kelly’s alleged treatment of six women and girls, including the late singer Arya.
Several women, including some not named in the indictment, have testified about Kelly’s alleged abuse.
On August 18, a jury of 7 men and 5 women began the trial; Thursday’s meeting was the first meeting since September 3.
Sonia said she had traveled to Chicago to interview Kelly from a Utah radio station, where she worked as a 21-year-old intern.
She testified that she signed two non-disclosure agreements when she arrived at the chocolate factory and before leaving the chocolate factory, but she did not read them.
Sonia also said that she was warned not to negotiate with Kelly before leaving, and added obscene content to emphasize that she thought it was a threat. She said that the interview never happened.
Kelly’s lawyers have been trying to show that the singer’s accuser wants to be with him.
Sonia told Cannick that Utah Radio would not arrange her trip to Chicago, so she went by herself, and Kelly’s team was in charge of the logistics.
But when asked why she did not read the second confidentiality agreement, after the alleged attack, Sonia told Kannick: “I just want to go home.”
Famous for songs such as Grammy Awards I believe I Can Fly with Bump N’GrindKelly has been facing allegations of sexual abuse for nearly two decades.
After the #MeToo movement started and the lifelong documentary was broadcast, censorship increased. Kelly has been sentenced to more than two years in prison and is facing sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
