R Kelly found guilty in sex trafficking trial after decades of sex abuse allegations

R&B star R Kelly has been found guilty in his sex trafficking trial after allegations that he sexually abused women, girls and boys for more than two decades.

The 54-year-old singer, best known for the 1996 smash hit 'I Believe I Can Fly', has been on trial in New York.

A jury of seven men and five women, who began their deliberations on Friday, found Kelly guilty of racketeering and eight charges of trafficking people across state lines for prostitution.

Prosecutors argued that Kelly’s managers, bodyguards and other employees allegedly helped him meet women, girls and boys for sexual exploitation - amounting to a criminal enterprise to groom them.

Several accusers alleged during the trial that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.

Prosecutors said Kelly invited children and women to join him after his shows. Once he was alone with them, he “dominated and controlled them physically, sexually and psychologically,” and would also often record the sex acts, prosecutor Maria Cruz Melendez said.

Kelly will be sentenced on May 4, 2022 and faces up to 20 years in prison.

The accusers had alleged that they were ordered to sign nondisclosure forms and were subjected to punishments such as violent spankings if they broke what one referred to as “Rob’s rules".

Some said they believed the explicit videotapes he shot of them would be used against them if they exposed his behaviour.

Gloria Allred, lawyer for many of the women, welcomed the convictions.

"Of all the predators that I have pursued, however, Mr Kelly is the worst," Gloria Allred, lawyer for some of the women welcomed the convictions

She said: “I have been practicing law for 47 years. During this time I have pursued many sexual predators who have committed crimes against women and children. Of all the predators that I have pursued, however, Mr Kelly is the worst.”

"He used the power of his celebrity to recruit vulnerable, underaged girls for the purpose of sexually abusing them."

During the trial, jurors heard how Kelly had illegally obtained paperwork to marry underage singer Aaliyah, who died in a plane accident in 2001 after marrying Kelly aged 15.

One of the final witnesses described seeing him sexually abusing her around 1993, when Aaliyah was only 13 or 14.

The court heard testimony about a fraudulent marriage scheme hatched to protect Kelly after he feared he had impregnated Aaliyah.

Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a licence falsely listing her age as 18; he was 27 at the time.

Defence lawyer Deveraux Cannick labelled the accusers “groupies” and “stalkers” and questioned why the victims stayed in relationships with Kelly if they thought they were being exploited.

“You made a choice,” Mr Cannick told one woman who testified, adding: “You participated of your own will.”

Two people have been charged with Kelly in a separate federal case that’s pending in Chicago.

Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, has been jailed without bail since in 2019. The trial was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and the singer's last-minute shake-up of his legal team.

Allegations of Kelly's inappropriate relationships with minors began with his illegal marriage to R&B singer Aaliyah in 1994 when she was just 15.

Even after he was arrested in 2002 and accused of recording himself sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, his songs and concert tickets kept selling and other artists continued to record his songs.

Widespread public condemnation did not come until the docu-series 'Surviving R Kelly' was aired.

Many of the victims said they wondered if their stories were previously ignored because they were black women.

“To the victims in this case, your voices were heard and justice was finally served,” Acting US Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said.