After being sentenced to 30 years in prison last June, singer R. Kelly was yesterday found guilty of child pornography by US courts.
The verdict is in. After an initial trial last June that sentenced him to 30 years in prison for sexual crimes against young women, R. Kelly once again faced justice. At the end of this second trial, during which video extracts were broadcast showing the sexual violence committed by the 55-year-old singer who fell on young girls, one of whom was only 14, the latter was sentenced on Wednesday, September 14, after eleven hours. of deliberation for the production of child pornography and misappropriation of minors.
The verdict “holds Robert Kelly responsible for the sexual violence committed against a 14-year-old girl,” said prosecutor John Lausch.
“The suffering inflicted by Mr. Kelly on his victims is immense,” he added, praising the “strength, determination and courage” of those who testified during the trial.
Robert Sylvester Kelly was also prosecuted for obstruction of justice. An accusation for which R. Kelly, as well as two former partners, were however acquitted. They were accused of both threatening and bribing a victim, whom he had not then testified during the trial as early as 2008 for child pornography, during which the jury had found him not guilty. This time the young woman, 37 years old, intervened.
A sentence fixed later
Famous worldwide for his hit “I Believe I Can Fly”, the singer, who has sold 75 million records, will be sentenced later. He faces “ten to 90 years in prison,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
A sentence that must be added to the 30 years of imprisonment to which R. Kelly has already been sentenced in 2021 for having piloted a “system” of sexual exploitation of young people for three decades, including adolescents to whom he had promised to help them in their career. . According to the indictment, they were then “indoctrinated”, forced into sexual relations and kept in this “system” by “coercive measures”.
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