R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sexual abuse charges

*Trigger Warning: This article includes references to sexual assault*

Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday, months after he was convicted on all nine counts in a high-profile sex trafficking case. The US District Judge Ann Donnelly handed down the sentence in Brooklyn, New York, after several of Kelly’s victims addressed him at the hearing as they presented their accounts.

Judge Donnelly in while delivering the sentence, said to Kelly, “You took advantage of their hopes and dreams, holding teenagers in your house trapped. You were at the top of your organization, and you raped and beat them, separated them from their families and forced them to do unspeakable things”, via NBC News. 

The trial centred on the allegations of six people during which prosecutors said Kelly was a serial sexual predator who abused young women, as well as underage girls and boys, for more than two decades. It was also alleged that he and his entourage led a criminal enterprise which recruited and groomed victims for sex, arranging for them to travel to concerts and events across the US. Kelly was also accused of confining victims in hotel rooms or his recording studio, managing when they could eat and use the bathroom and forcing them to follow that they call him “Daddy.”

A victim who addressed court recalled an incident where she was was forced to perform oral sex on Kelly.” Appearing in court, she said, “You are an abuser, shameless, disgusting. I hope you go to jail for the rest of your life. I feel sorry for you”, via NBC News. Kelly pleaded not guilty to all charges and did not take the stand in his own defence.

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