R. Kelly Accuser Says She Saw Him Sexually Assault Aaliyah, Too

A lady who says she was sexually assaulted by R. Kelly when she was a youngster advised jurors in Brooklyn federal court on Monday that she additionally personally witnessed the singer sexually assault underage R&B star Aaliyah behind his tour bus in 1992 or 1993.

On the time, Aaliyah, who died in a aircraft crash in 2001, would have been 13 or 14 years outdated.

“[I] barely opened the door and noticed Robert and Aaliyah in a sexual state of affairs,” the girl, who recognized herself on the stand as “Angela” and mentioned she labored as a backup singer, advised jurors throughout Kelly’s sex-crimes trial.

“It appeared he was giving her oral intercourse,” she added in regards to the incident, noting that Aaliyah was sitting “together with her legs open” and Kelly was “on his knees, in between her legs.”

The alleged incident got here at the very least one yr earlier than Kelly’s secret marriage to Aaliyah, who was just 15 at the time of the ceremony. Throughout Kelly’s trial, witnesses and prosecutors have mentioned that with a view to marry her, Kelly bribed an Illinois state official for pretend identification for {the teenager}.

The surprising allegations recommend Kelly’s predation of underaged ladies went even youthful than beforehand reported. Coupled with the bombshell that Angela was allegedly assaulted herself in 1991, when she was 14 or 15, the testimony supplied a number of the most detailed proof but of Kelly preying on Aaliyah when she was a toddler.

Prosecutors have charged Kelly with allegedly abusing at the very least six girls and ladies, 4 of whom have been minors on the time. Whereas Kelly will not be charged with crimes in opposition to Angela, her testimony could possibly be essential within the prosecution’s argument that the singer had a sample of predatory conduct that was supported by his workers.

“We have been taught from Day 1 to guard Robert,” Angela advised jurors.

Kelly, 54, faces expenses together with racketeering based mostly on kidnapping, sexual exploitation of kids, and compelled labor; he’s additionally charged with violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transport of individuals throughout state traces for intercourse. The singer has pleaded not responsible to all expenses in opposition to him and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Angela testified on Monday that she met Kelly in 1991, when she was invited to the singer’s Chicago condominium for a celebration throughout her summer season break earlier than her sophomore yr of highschool.

Throughout that get-together, Angela mentioned, Kelly had a sequence of “younger women” enter his room one after the other to have some type of sexual contact with him. When Angela was directed to enter Kelly’s room, the singer advised her to “climb on prime of him” whereas different “younger women within the room” have been undressing, she mentioned.

“I used to be startled. I wasn’t positive of what to do. However I did what he mentioned,” Angela mentioned, including that she was invited again to Kelly’s condominium the subsequent day.

Angela mentioned she then noticed Kelly “day-after-day for fairly a number of years,” and ultimately grew to become the singer’s backup dancer. Throughout that point, she mentioned, Kelly pressured her and the opposite dancers to have intercourse with him as fee.

“He advised us to pay our dues—it was a requirement to be round,” Angela mentioned, including that he would additionally say “get me some ladies or deliver me some new expertise.”

In Jan. 1992, Angela mentioned, Kelly launched her and one other back-up dancer to Aaliyah—calling her “the most popular wave popping out of Detroit.” Breaking down on the stand, Angela recalled how Kelly advised Aaliyah that the 2 ladies could be working collectively.

We have been “going to present her a avenue vibe and we have been going to be there to be her buddies as properly,” Angela mentioned, including that at that first assembly, Kelly admitted that it was Aaliyah’s birthday and she or he had simply turned 13.

“She was his protégé,” Angela mentioned, including that she noticed Aayliah work with Kelly on her first album, the notoriously titled, “Age Ain’t Nothing However a Quantity.”

Months later, throughout one in every of Kelly’s excursions, Angela mentioned, she realized one thing much more sinister.

She advised jurors she unintentionally walked in on Kelly and Aaliyah behind his tour bus whereas they have been on a cease in Washington, D.C. Angela mentioned that she by no means confronted Kelly about what she noticed.

Through the tour cease, Angela mentioned that Kelly had gotten mad at her a number of occasions, as soon as for going right into a pool with Aaliyah and another backup dancers. One other time, she mentioned, Kelly grew enraged on the younger ladies for leaving the lodge with out his permission.

“Robert advised all of us we must put out. It was dues time,” she mentioned, noting to jurors that she ultimately escaped a cycle of abuse.

The witness mentioned she stopped working for Kelly within the “mid Nineties”—and by no means spoke out in regards to the sexual violence till Monday.

“I used to be embarrassed. I by no means needed anybody to know I used to be in that state of affairs. In any respect,” she mentioned.

A number of different girls have mentioned they have been sexually assaulted by Kelly, including one accuser who said she was assaulted by him after being locked in his studio for days. After the assault, she advised jurors, she was threatened by one in every of Kelly’s associates to remain quiet and to not “fuck with Mr. Kelly.”

The girl, recognized on the stand as Sonja, advised jurors on Thursday that in 2003 she traveled to Chicago to interview Kelly whereas she was a 21-year-old intern at a Salt Lake Metropolis radio station. When she arrived, Sonja mentioned, Kelly’s associates made her signal an NDA earlier than locking her in a room on the studio for “three or 4 days” with out meals or water. When she lastly obtained one thing to eat, she instantly grew to become “extraordinarily full and drained,” she mentioned.

Simply after she awakened, Sonja mentioned, she noticed Kelly within the nook of the room “doing up his pants”—and seen her underwear resting on an armchair. “I used to be sexually assaulted. There was one thing in me that wasn’t invited,” she mentioned.

One other accuser told jurors that Kelly forced her to have sex in a Miami dressing room after one in every of his reveals in September 1994—when she was simply 17 years outdated.

The alleged assault occurred simply two days after Kelly’s secret marriage to Aaliyah. In Feb. 1996, Aaliyah’s marriage to Kelly was annulled by her mother and father.

Kelly additionally allegedly preyed on at the very least two John Does after they have been minors, together with “Louis,” who advised jurors he met the singer at a Chicago McDonald’s drive-thru in 2006. He mentioned that in his over 10-year relationship with Kelly, which started when he was 17, the singer sexually assaulted him a number of occasions after promising to assist together with his music profession.

The second John Doe, whom Kelly met when he was 16 or 17, was additionally allegedly pressured to have filmed intercourse with the singer and a number of other of his girlfriends. Kelly will not be charged for the alleged crimes in opposition to the 2 males.