R Kelly is facing claims his ex-manager told one of his ex-girlfriends she should have been murdered over an alleged child pornography sex tape she says she took from the singer.
R Kelly is facing claims his ex-manager told one of his ex-girlfriends she should have been murdered over an alleged child pornography sex tape she says she took from the singer
Lisa Van Allen, who had a relationship with the disgraced R and B sensation, 55, in 1998, is the latest witness to testify in his child pornography federal trial.
She told the jury in Chicago she had sex with both the singer and his underage goddaughter as they were videotaped by Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly.
Van Allen said after she lifted one of the alleged recordings, which Kelly is said to have carried around in a bag, his team offered to pay her $250,000 (£212,000) for its return.
She added Kelly’s former manager, Derrel McDavid, also told her they should have just “murked” – murdered – her instead of offering payment.
Van Allen got emotional as she testified she had threesomes from 1998 three times with Kelly and his goddaughter, known by the pseudonym of ‘Jane’ for the purposes of his trial an referred to as ‘Minor 1’ in pre-trial papers.
Van Allen, now 42, added she first met Kelly in 1998, when she was 18, and they began having regular sex.
After she moved from Atlanta to Chicago to be with him, Kelly is said to have brought Jane into their relationship later in 1998.
Kelly allegedly lied that Jane was his 16-year-old neighbour before the three had sex as the singer recorded, on three separate occasions and in different parts of his house, according to Van Allen.
She said when Jane mentioned her 16th birthday years later, she realised “she had to be 14” when they met.
She insisted she never wanted to participate in threesomes, but stopped once she learned Jane was a minor.
Van Allen again grew visibly emotional when she talked about taking a tape of one of their alleged threesomes and said she sent it out of state.
Weeping while about Kelly’s ex-manager McDavid issuing her with a sinister warning, she said he said “they should’ve ‘murked’ me from the beginning”.
She added: “I never knew they were thinking about killing me.”
Defense attorneys for Kelly highlighted apparent inconsistencies between Van Allen’s testimony and past accounts of her relationship with Kelly, including ones revealed in the ‘Surviving R Kelly’ documentary.
Kelly’s trial, which started last week, is slated to conclude within a month, with testimony from more alleged underage victims expected in the coming days.
He is on trial on a 13-count indictment, including charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice.
His associates Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown are co-defendants, with McDavid accused of helping Kelly fix a 2008 trial, while Brown is charged with receiving child pornography.
Like Kelly, they deny wrongdoing.
The witness ‘Jane’ has already testified Kelly had sex with her “hundreds of times” when she was between the ages of 15 and 18 after meeting him when she was 13.
She added she was around 14 the first time he touched her breasts and when he “started penetration”.
The ‘Ignition’ singer is already serving a 30-year sentence in New York on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
Kelly faces charges of obstructing justice in a previous child pornography trial, as well as charges of child pornography and enticing minors to sex.
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