R Kelly trial latest: Singer was recorded threatening and assaulting victim, prosecution claims
Kelly, 54, faces nine charges including sexual abuse, racketeering and bribery. The prosecution wants to submit recordings of what it says is the singer threatening and attacking victims as evidence.
R Kelly threatened to “f*** up” one of his victims before assaulting her, according to newly submitted court documents.
The prosecution in the sex-trafficking case against the 54-year-old singer – real name Robert Kelly – wants a recording of the incident to be admitted as evidence.
According to papers filed at a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, the incident happened in 2008.
On the tape, Kelly is said to be heard saying: “If you lie to me, I’m going to f*** you up.”
In a second video, the I Believe I Can Fly singer is heard threatening a woman from Florida known as “Jane Doe” and accusing her of stealing his Rolex watch.
“You better not ever… take from me again or I will be in Florida and something will happen to you,” he says, according to the documents. “You understand what I’m telling you?”
The filing states that prosecutors wanted Jane Doe to testify at Kelly’s trial, but decided against it after the woman “started to have panic attacks and appeared to have an emotional breakdown” as she listened to the tapes.
Kelly has denied racketeering and other charges accusing him of sexually abusing women, girls and boys during the course of his 30-year-career.
On Tuesday, the judge in the case indicated she would allow the tapes to be used as evidence in a trial which started last month.
Kelly allegedly told his victims he had cameras and other recording devices “everywhere” in his Chicago studio and other locations.
He has also been accused of recording sexual encounters with other victims.
On Monday, the court heard from a witness that said she saw Kelly in a “sexual situation” with R&B singer Aaliyah around 1993 – when Aaliyah would have been around 13 or 14.
The witness – a former backing dancer for Kelly – added that he had sex with her when she was 15.
Previously, the jury heard that Kelly had acquired two fake IDs through an employee so he could marry Aaliyah after he started to have sex with her while she was underage and thought she was pregnant.
A marriage licence submitted as evidence falsely listed Aaliyah’s age as 18 and Kelly’s as 27.
Prosecutors have stated that Kelly wanted to use the later-annulled marriage to prevent Aaliyah testifying against him.
Kelly helped Aaliyah – full name Aaliyah Dana Haughton – write her 1994 debut album Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.
She later died aged 22 in 2001 in a plane crash.
