But a lawyer for Kelly tried
during cross-examination to cast doubt on the
woman's claims, and instead show that Kelly
treated her well, even generously, and that she
welcomed his company.
The woman, who identified herself on the witness
stand as Jane, is the second accuser to testify
against Kelly at the 54-year-old's trial in
federal court in Brooklyn.
Kelly, known for the Grammy-winning song "I
Believe I Can Fly," has pleaded not guilty to
prosecutors' charges he abused six women and
girls, including Jane and the late singer
Aaliyah.
He could face life in prison if convicted. The
trial began on Aug. 18 and could last a month.
Jane, who began testifying on Monday, said she
was 17 when she met Kelly at a 2015 Florida
music festival, later lived with him until the
summer of 2019, and left him for good that
October.
Under questioning from federal prosecutor
Elizabeth Geddes, Jane, now 23, said Kelly told
her to have nonconsensual sex multiple times in
his presence with another man, "Nephew," who
Kelly said he had been "grooming since he was
young."
She also said that when Lifetime's "Surviving R.
Kelly" documentary detailing Kelly's alleged
sexual misconduct was coming out in January
2019, Kelly warned her that everything in it was
false and she must change the channel.
Multiple witnesses have said Kelly maintained
tight control at his Chicago home, with Jane
saying he ordered her to write him apology
letters for breaking his rules, such as
referring to him as "Daddy" and needing
permission to use the bathroom.
"I'm not happy. I'm not being fulfilled
sexually, and on top of that I'm getting
spankings nearly every day," Jane said she wrote
in one apology letter. "This isn't what I want
my life to be. I know it's not what you want
either."
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Jane also said that when she
and another woman defended Kelly in an interview
with CBS News' Gayle King, before moving out,
Kelly coached them what to say and coughed in a
distinctive way so they would know he was there,
listening in. On
cross-examination, Kelly's lawyer Deveraux
Cannick questioned Jane's claim that Kelly
pressured her into their first alleged sexual
encounter, when she was 17, as a condition of
helping advance her own fledgling singing
career.
"After being violated, outraged and devastated,
you flew out to meet him?" he asked. Jane said
she had, and that she did not tell anyone about
the encounter.
Jane also resisted Cannick's suggestion that
Kelly and his girlfriends functioned like a
"family," while agreeing that the singer once
rented a California home for Christmas and gave
his girlfriends $10,000 each to buy presents for
each other.
"I wouldn't call it a family now," she said.
Later, Cannick had Jane read from letters she
wrote Kelly in jail following his July 2019
arrest.
In one, she said there were "no bad feelings"
between them, and that she would continue to
support Kelly.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York;
editing by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool)
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