|
The woman, who identified herself as Faith,
said the May 2017 encounter occurred after a concert in
Westbury, New York, that a Kelly assistant had arranged, two
months after Faith first met the singer backstage at a concert
in San Antonio.
Faith, who was 19 when she first met Kelly and not a fan - she
attended the San Antonio concert with her older sister, who was
a fan - said the 50-year-old Kelly at first seemed "friendly"
and "down to earth," even as he asked her to call him "Daddy."
She said that after waking up at her hotel the morning after the
Westbury concert, Kelly stopped by and invited her to take off
some of her clothes and "rub on Daddy."
Faith said she wasn't ready for sex, and that Kelly replied:
"I'm at my best when wanted."
The testimony came on the ninth day of Kelly's trial for running
what prosecutors call the now-54-year-old Kelly's decades-long
targeting of women and girls for sex, with the help of employees
and assistants.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has pleaded
not guilty to one racketeering count and eight counts of
violating an interstate sex trafficking law.
An indictment accuses him of abusing six women and girls,
including the late singer Aaliyah. A male accuser has also said
Kelly sexually abused him.
Several accusers and former employees have testified for the
government, saying Kelly demanded they obediently follow "Rob's
rules" even as he preyed on victims, including former fans and
people who hoped Kelly could jump-start their own music careers.
Earlier Tuesday, former Kelly assistant Suzette Mayweather
testified that her former boss threatened to "fine" her for
speaking with his girlfriends, and once ordered her to fetch him
sweet potato pie at 1 or 2 a.m. as punishment for doing so.
Mayweather also said one girlfriend named Dominique once told
her about wanting to be a writer, and that when Kelly learned
they had spoken lied to protect her by saying she, not
Dominique, had initiated the conversation.
"It was the first time I had ever seen Rob this upset,"
Mayweather said. "It was the look in his eyes."
Mayweather also described a January 2016 birthday party in
Chicago where she said Kelly ordered female attendees to fight
among themselves, because he did not like that they were "twerking
for cake."
Known for the 1996 Grammy-winning song "I Believe I Can Fly,"
Kelly has been dogged by sexual abuse accusations for nearly two
decades. Many were discussed in the 2019 Lifetime documentary
"Surviving R. Kelly."
The trial began on Aug. 18, and is expected to last well into
September. Kelly has been jailed for more than two years, and
also faces sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
(Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York; Editing by Howard
Goller and Jonathan Oatis)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
|
|
