R Kelly found guilty of trafficking

Kelly at his trial in 2008

American singer, R Kelly, has been found guilty of sex trafficking. Kelly used his celebrity status to run an enterprise that mentally and sexually abused black women and children. Eleven accusers came forward in the six-week trial in Brooklyn.

The jury took two days to deliberate before finding Kelly guilty on all charges. He was found guilty of eight counts of sex trafficking and racketeering. He will be sentenced on 4 May.

The 54-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, coerced women, girls and boys for sexual abuse through a criminal enterprise in Chicago. One woman testified that she had been “drugged and raped” by Kelly .

Kelly is separately facing charges on child pornography and obstruction in Chicago. He is also due to face sex abuse charges in Minnesota and Illinois.

New York Attorney General tweeted about the case calling the verdict an “important moment for accountability in the #MeToo movement”.

For decades, R. Kelly physically and sexually abused women and underage girls.

Although nothing can ever make up for years of suffering, those individuals finally received some sense of justice today.

— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) September 27, 2021

Kelly was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges of racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of women or girls for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery.

Kelly is best known for his hit, I Believe I Can Fly, which he released in 1996.

In 2008, the Illinois courts acquitted Kelly in a child pornography case.