R Kelly has been denied bail after pleading not guilty to child pornography charges.
The R&B star, 52, has been indicted on seven charges related to child pornography, five counts of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
It’s now been claimed by a senior law-enforcement official that prosecutors in the case have a video which shows the singer sexually assaulting an underage girl.
R Kelly, real name Robert Sylvester Kelly, was arrested on Thursday in Chicago and has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center since then. He appeared in court today in shackles and wearing an orange jumpsuit, NBC News reports.
Kelly plead not guilty to all charges and his defence team argued that he should be released on bail because the singer was not a danger to the public adding that the alleged offences took place more than a decade ago.
Prosecutors, however, argued that Kelly should remain behind bars because he was ‘an extreme danger to the community, especially minor girls’.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Angel Krull said:
If he was attracted in 1999 to middle school girls, he’s still attracted to middle school girls. It’s who the defendant is and that, your honor, makes him a danger today.
The presiding Judge Harry Leinenweber agreed with the prosecution and refused him bail.
According to The Independent, prosecutors also alleged that Kelly had forcibly kept people under his control, intimidated witnesses and bought their silence.
Kelly was first arrested on charges relating to child pornography in 2002 but was acquitted by a jury in 2008. Following the airing of the documentary Surviving R. Kelly which detailed allegations of sexual abuse by multiple women, Kelly was again indicted on new charges in New York and Illinois.
The New York indictment claims that Kelly and a number of his employees, including managers and bodyguards, recruited women and girls to participate in sexual activity. They would then set strict rules including when they could use the restroom.
It also accuses Kelly of abusing five women between the late 90s and 2018 as well as transporting women across state lines for ‘immoral purpose’.
Meanwhile, in Illinois, separate charges allege Kelly attempted to cover-up the existence of tapes which allegedly show minors engaging in sexual activity.
The 13-count indictment alleges Kelly filmed himself having sex with at least four minors and that he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to recover the tapes after they disappeared from his collection.
Kelly denies all of the charges against him.
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More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.