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During the six-week trial of singer R. Kelly, federal prosecutors called 45 witnesses, including former associates, a doctor who treated him for herpes for more than a decade, and family members of his accusers. But the basis of the case was based on his encounters with several women, some of whom were screened in court.
R&B artist Aaliyah
Mr. Kelly met Aaliyah at her family’s Michigan home in 1992 and produced her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number.
By the time she was 13, he had begun sexually abusing her, prosecutors said. In 1994, Mr. Kelly illegally married her, believing she may have been pregnant and trying to avoid prosecution. The two had a 10-minute ceremony in a Sheraton hotel room in the Chicago area. Their marriage was later annulled.
Aaliyah, whose full name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, died in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of 22.
Jerhonda Pace, the first accuser to testify
Ms. Pace testified for the first two days of the trial, becoming the first prosecutor to testify against Mr. Kelly in court. She was also one of the first women to go public with her allegations in a 2017 BuzzFeed article that sparked a round of public outrage against the singer.
She testified that Mr. Kelly had sex with her in 2009 when she was 16 and he was in his 40s.
Angela, a backing singer who said she was in high school when the abuse began
The first victim to testify at the sentencing hearing, a woman who gave her name only as Angela previously said she met Mr Kelly around 1991 when she was between 14 and 15 years old.
Mr. Kelly began having sex with her when she was a minor and a high school student, she testified at the trial last year. She also recounted how he often pressured her and several other supporting actors into having sex.
Angela was also the first prosecutor to testify that she had seen Mr. Kelly and Aaliyah engage in sexual activity.
During the sentencing hearing, Angela stood at a lectern, looked directly at Mr. Kelly and spoke in an unwavering voice. She called Mr. Kelly a Pied Piper who lured children with his money and fame.
“Your malice grew with each new victim,” she said. “You have used your fame and power to nurture and train underage boys and girls for your own sexual gratification.”
Today, “we’re reclaiming our names,” she said. “We are no longer the exploited individuals that we once were.”
Stephanie, who was also a minor when she was abused
A woman who took the witness stand at the trial and gave only her first name, Stephanie, said that in 1999, when she was 17, she approached Mr. Kelly at a Nike store to ask him to audition for a friend , who wanted to be a singer.
Mr Kelly agreed in exchange for sexual favors, she said. The next six months were “the lowest time of my life,” Stephanie told jurors.
At the sentencing hearing, Stephanie, who spoke fifth and was credited as Jane Doe No. 2, detailed how Mr. Kelly returned sweaty from basketball games with his friends before making her perform oral sex on him.
“I felt special because someone who was special to the world took an interest in me,” she said, adding, “I hope you end up in prison for the rest of your life.”
A woman testifying under a pseudonym
The woman, who has made some of the most graphic testimonies about physical and sexual abuse in court, first supported Mr. Kelly in a high-profile interview with Gayle King of CBS This Morning in 2019.
But she told jurors the singer often instructed her to rehearse answers to possible questions from reporters or the public to give her the “right” answers — even when they were wrong.
Believe, who said the singer had not revealed any sexually transmitted infection
Faith, who was the sixth woman to speak at the sentencing hearing, said during the trial that she had sex with Mr. Kelly in 2017 when she was 19. But the encounters turned violent at times, she said at the time, and on one occasion Mr. Kelly took her into a room with a gun, grabbed her by the neck, and ordered her to perform a sexual act on him.
Shortly after another sexual encounter, she was diagnosed with herpes. Faith said Mr. Kelly never told her he had the terminal illness. “I said, ‘Are you going to use a condom?'” she recalled after asking Mr. Kelly during their first sexual encounter. “He said, ‘We don’t need a condom.'”
During the hearing, Faith appeared with her father by her side. “I hope you forgive yourself,” she said while crying. “I forgive myself.”
Sonja who said she was imprisoned and raped
Sonja, who also spoke at the sentencing hearing, was a 22-year-old radio intern when she met Mr. Kelly outside a Salt Lake City mall, and he said he invited her to Chicago for an interview in 2003, according to a testimony.
But when she arrived, she previously said, Mr. Kelly locked her in a room in his studio for days. She had nothing to eat, but eventually food was brought to her. Then, after taking several bites, she felt sleepy, she said. She told the jury that she woke up later to find her underwear draped over the couch and Mr. Kelly pulling up his pants.
During the sentencing hearing, she described how Kelly would have people watching and following her over the years. “I was afraid for my life,” she said.
Sonja also emailed the court a statement, which she declined to read in full. But before she left the lectern, she added, “I hope and I pray to God that we can all heal.”
