Arthur Greene
The once celebrated singer R Kelly was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in prison for running a scheme to sexually abuse women and children.
Last year Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering on each of the nine counts that he was facing.
Before his sentencing, a handful of women who were victims of Kelly took to the stands to confront him.
A woman referred to as Angela told him “grew in wickedness” with every new victim.
Another, Lizette Martinez, told Kelly he exploited her when she was 17 by promising her a singing career. “Robert, you destroyed so many people’s lives,” she told him.
After sentencing him, US district judge Ann Donnelly spoke directly to Kelly, telling him, “These crimes were calculated and carefully planned, and regularly executed for almost 25 years. You taught them that love is enslavement and violence.” Kelly did not respond.
The heights of Kelly’s previous success as a musician and the scale of his abuse make his of the most high profile and historic sex abuse cases in recent years. And his fall after successfully fighting the allegations for almost 30 years represents a victory for victims of abuse.
He is best known for the two singles “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Ignition (Remix)” but even throughout the time he was enjoying astronomic success from these songs two decades ago, he was facing serious allegations of sexual abuse.
The allegations date back to 1994, when it emerged that Kelly had married underage singer Aaliyah in a secret ceremony in Chicago. Kelly was 27 at the time while Aaliyah was aged just 15.
Kelly faced several more abuse allegations over the next decade, the most serious of which came in 2002 when he was charged with 21 counts of making child sexual abuse videos.
The case took six years to go to trial, with the jury eventually deciding that it could not be proved that the girl in the videos was underage.
In 2017, an article was published by Buzzfeed which gave the testimonies of six women who alleged that Kelly had trapped them in an abusive “sex cult”.
Two years later a six-hour Lifetime documentary called Surviving R. Kelly aired, which led to fresh charges laid against the singer.
By this time, the public and the music industry could no longer tolerate the allegations accumulating around him, and he was dropped by his record label and faced a public boycott.
But Kelly’s fall from grace may not yet be complete. He will stand trial in August on child sex images and obstruction charges.
Image source: @ajplus
