(Fwrd Axis) — Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday after he was convicted on all nine counts against him in a high-profile sex trafficking case back in September.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly handed down the sentence and slammed the singer as she announced the sentence.
“You were a person who had great advantages — worldwide fame and celebrity and untold money,” she said. “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.”
One of R. Kelly’s victims recalled an incident when she was forced to perform oral sex on him “after you played basketball, in a car full of your friends.”
Do you remember that?!” she said. “You couldn’t care less. I avoided your name and your songs and suffocated with fear. What you did left a permanent stain on my life.”
“You are an abuser, shameless, disgusting,” she added. “I hope you go to jail for the rest of your life. I feel sorry for you.”
R. Kelly, who is best known for his 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly”, pleaded not guilty to all charges. He did not take the stand in his own defense.
The prosecution focused on Kelly’s past, saying he is a serial sexual predator who abused young women, as well as underage girls and boys, for more than two decades. The state went further, saying he and his entourage led a criminal enterprise that recruited and groomed victims for sex, offering them free perks in exchange.
One of the more graphic videos out of several explicit videos in evidence that was shown to the jury shows Kelly grabbing a victim by the hair and forcing her to perform oral sex on another man.
He was acquitted in 2008 of child pornography charges.
