R&B singer R Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking, racketeering
Fallen music star R Kelly was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in prison in a US federal sex trafficking and racketeering case in New York.
Last year, a jury found R&B singer and producer Kelly, 55, guilty of racketeering and other counts in a trial that was seen as a key moment in the #MeToo movement.
Outrage over Kelly's sexual misconduct with young women and children was fueled in part by the widely watched docuseries “Surviving R Kelly," which gave voice to accusers who wondered if their stories were previously ignored because they were Black women.
US District Judge Ann Donnelly imposed the sentence at a federal court in Brooklyn after hearing statements from seven victims.
Through tears and anger, his accusers told a court Wednesday he had preyed on them and misled his fans, while Kelly awaited sentencing on his federal sex trafficking conviction in a tan prison uniform.
"You made me do things that broke my spirit. I literally wished I would die because of how low you made me feel," one woman told the singer. She said she was forever traumatised by her teenage experience with him.
"Do you remember that?” she asked.
Another woman said Kelly's conviction renewed her confidence in the legal system.
“I once lost hope,” she said, addressing the court and prosecutors, “but you restored my faith.”
The woman said Kelly victimised her after she went to a concert when she was 17.
“I was afraid, naive and didn’t know to handle the situation,” she said, so she did not speak up at the time.
“Silence,” she said, “is a very lonely place.”
Prosecutors sought a minimum 25-year term, while the defence said a sentence of 10 years or less is all he deserved.
Kelly’s lawyers argued in court papers he should get a break in part because he
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