R. Kelly’s alleged sexual assault victim says she participated in the investigation because she didn’t want ‘her lie exposed’

A woman who says R. Kelly sexually assaulted her hundreds of times before she turned 18 testified on Friday that she had agonized over the possibility of cooperating with federal investigators investigating allegations of child abuse against the singer for several years. , but ended up giving up. Because she didn’t want to “carry her lie.”

But the witness, now 37 and using the alias “Jane” at trial, also admitted that even after cooperating, she lied at one point when she told federal agents she wasn’t sure whether Kelly had sexually abused her. He said he lied because he didn’t want others to suffer.

Jane testified for more than four hours on Thursday, saying it was she and Kelly who appeared on the videotape at the center of her 2008 child pornography trial, in which she was acquitted. She also said Kelly sexually assaulted her hundreds of times in the late 1990s, before she turned 18. Kelly, 55, was in her early 30s at the time.

During her cross-examination on Friday, Kelly’s lead attorney, Jennifer Bongen, tried to put the imprisoned R&B singer in a more favorable light after Jane testified the day before about how Kelly sexually stalked her when she was about 14 years old.

Kelly has been dogged by complaints and accusations about her sexual behavior for decades. Scrutiny has intensified in the #MeToo era and the release of Lifetime television documentaries in 2019. Survivor R. Kelly.

On cross-examination, Jane said that her relationship with Kelly lasted 12 years, lasting two years from the 2008 trial until she was 26. Bonjin asked, “After you guys broke up, did you take care of him and did he take care of you?” Jane said it was true.

which Survivor R. Kelly On the way out, Jane said she was worried about Kelly and went to her. In one of her texts, she wrote: “I love you. Don’t let the devil win.”

She said she repeatedly tried to contact him in 2019 for advice, wondering if this was the first time she had spoken to authorities about Kelly. She told the jury, “I felt free to approach him because I was scared.”

He said he soon decided to talk to investigators.

“I didn’t want to put up with your lies anymore,” he said.

Kelly, who denies any wrongdoing, is serving a 30-year prison term after being convicted in New York federal court last year of using her name to sexually assault fans.

At his current trial in his hometown of Chicago, he faces child pornography and tampering charges from a 2008 trial for bullying and paying a girl, Jane, to make sure she didn’t testify. He also faces four counts of sex with a minor in the Chicago trial, one for each of the other four defendants. They are also expected to testify.

On Thursday, Jane publicly said for the first time that the girl on the videotape at the center of the 2008 trial was her and the man was Kelly. He said he was about 14 years old at the time of the shooting.

Some jurors at the trial said they had no choice but to acquit Kelly because the girl, who was an adult at the time, did not testify. In Thursday’s deposition, Jane admitted to lying to a grand jury in 2002 when she said she wasn’t in the video. He said he did it because he feared “something bad would happen” to Kelly and because he was embarrassed.

Jane said she grew up in a musical family in suburban Chicago and was homeschooled as a touring band, which she joined at age 12. He said he met Kelly through his aunt, who worked with him. She asked him to be her godfather when she was 13, as she considered him an inspiration and a mentor. He said that in a few weeks, Kelly would call him and say sexual things to him. He told the jury that he was 15 years old when they first had sex.

He described his parents confronting Kelly in the early 2000s about whether he had sex with their daughter. Jane testified that Kelly knelt down and begged her parents to forgive her. She said she then begged her parents not to do anything about Kelly’s suffering, saying she loved them.

Kelly, who rose from poverty on Chicago’s South Side to become a singer, songwriter and record producer, knew the 2008 conviction would effectively end his life as he knew it, which is why prosecutors say he conspired to rig the judgment.