R. Kelly, the disgraced R&B singer, was found guilty of running a criminal organization that helped him prey on children, teenagers, and adults for his own sexual gratification. He was given a 30-year prison sentence.

In Brooklyn federal court, Kelly, 55, was convicted guilty of all the allegations brought against him in September. They included kidnapping, forced labor, and violations of the Mann Act, which forbade the transportation of people across state lines for sex. They also included racketeering based on the sexual exploitation of children.

Judge Anna Donnelly told Kelly before she was given the term, which also includes a $100,000 fine, "These victims were expendable to you." "You left a path of damaged lives in your wake; you taught them that love is servitude, brutality, and degrading treatment."

Kelly, who was dressed in khaki shorts and a khaki top, showed little reaction as the sentence was being read.

Before the verdict was given, several women gave victim impact statements outlining the impacts of Kelly's history of sex, emotional, and physical abuse. Kelly was directly addressed when she described the singer as a "pied piper" who seduced children with fame by Angela, a lady who testified at the trial about how she was sexually molested by the singer when she was a teenager.

You become more cruel, in my opinion, with every additional victim, Angela said. "You trained and coached minor boys and girls for your personal sexual enjoyment using your celebrity and authority," the accuser said.

In her statement to the court on Wednesday, Lizette Martinez, who appeared in the Surviving R. Kelly documentary series, kept it short and sweet: "Robert, you damaged so many people's lives."

After two years of delays brought on by a pandemic, several legal obstacles, and decades of accusations, charges, and lawsuits, the arduous six-week trial finally began. Prosecutors emphasized the horrific abuse exposed during the trial during Kelly's sentencing hearing on Wednesday, urging that he be given a term of more than 25 years in jail to "prevent the public from such crimes."

Federal prosecutors stated in a 31-page sentencing brief that "he maintained his crimes and avoided punishment for them for almost 30 years and must finally be held accountable." In fact, the defendant's decades of criminal activity "appears to have been fuelled by narcissism and a belief that his musical ability exonerated him of any responsibility to conform his conduct—no matter how predatory, hurtful, humiliating, or abusive to others—to the frameworks of the law."

The singer's legal team contended that his sexual behavior was consensual and that those who spoke out against him were simply bitter ex-wives with a hidden purpose. The team, led by Jennifer Bojean, argued for a sentence of less than 10 years in a sentencing memo, claiming the singer was a victim of abuse himself. Bojean successfully defended Bill Cosby in his appeal of sexual assault charges in Pennsylvania.

During the trial, two men, nine women, and two other witnesses testified about Kelly's abuse of them. Nearly all of the witnesses said that they first had intercourse with him when they were younger than 18 years old. Jane, one of the women who testified, spoke of her five-year connection with Kelly that started when she was 17 years old.

She sobbed on the witness stand as she detailed Kelly forcing her to spread feces on her tongue and eat it on camera as punishment for breaking one of his rules, which was undoubtedly the most terrible incident of the trial. She claimed that Kelly forced her to undergo an abortion once more in order to maintain "her body tight".

Source: https://thebureau.com.ng/2022/06/29/breaking-news-r-kelly-sentenced-to-30-years-in-prison/

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