Yesterday, during the R. Kelly trial, a woman testified that she was locked in a room without food for several days and was drugged before being sexually assaulted by R. Kelly, the New York Post reports.
Identifying herself as “Sonia,” she claims that she was held against her will at a Chicago studio after being promised an interview by Kelly.
“It would have been my very first huge celebrity interview,” who was an intern at a radio station in Utah at the time. “I thought it would kickstart my career.”
She was invited by Kelly on an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago. Upon arriving at the “Chocolate Factory” studio, she was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, had to reveal personal information about her family, and asked if she “needed protection,” i.e., a condom, according to reports by Buzzfeed News.
“No, I’m not here for that,” she responded.
One of Kelly’s employees informed her of several “rules” she had to follow while there, including that she “wasn’t allowed to look up” or “talk to anybody.”
Sonia said she was then left in a room alone when she realized she could not open the door. “It was locked from the outside,” she said.
According to Sonia, she was locked in the room for several days where she repeatedly banged on the door and called the studio’s reception asking to be let out. She described the room as having no windows and she would have to call reception to be taken to the bathroom. She recalled an employee would sometimes make her leave the bathroom door open while she was inside.
After being there for some days, Sonia claimed that she was finally allowed to eat some Chinese food and drink Sprite to quench her thirst. After taking a few bites of food, she “felt something coming over her.” Then, she said that she woke up to Kelly adjusting his pants while she felt “wet stuff between her legs and on her thighs.”
“Made me feel like something happened to me,” she recalled. “I know my body … I was touched sexually.”
When Kelly exited the room, she never saw him again. A few days later, she was given a flight home, she said.
As she left the studio, she was made to sign a second nondisclosure agreement. The employee then told her to keep her mouth shut about everything that took place.
“Don’t f— with Mr. Kelly,” the employee threatened.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick asked Sonia why it took several years to go public with her accusations. Also, he said that she had a cell phone the entire time she said she was locked in the room.
“Did you call 911? After you were raped, according to you, you didn’t call 911?” Deveraux asked.
“That’s correct,” she responded.
“I didn’t think anyone would believe me,” she said.
When the docuseries Surviving R. Kelly aired, Sonia retained an attorney and told her story to federal prosecutors.
Cannick pressed Sonia suggesting that maybe it was “the food that made her drowsy.”
“Was it MSG?” he asked.
“How do you know it was the food that made you drowsy?” Cannick asked.
“What else could it have been?” she responded.
A second witness named “Anna” testified Thursday that Kelly would punish her with spankings for breaking his “rules” during their relationship, which ended in 2017. Anna also claimed that Kelly would record the incidents on his iPad.
Now in her mid-20s, Anna said Kelly forced her to have sex with other women and a man known as “Nephew.”
Last month, a witness going by the name Jane also testified that she was also forced to have sex with “Nephew” while being involved with Kelly.
Kelly is charged with the sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor, and sexual trafficking across state lines and faces up to 20 years in prison. He also faces charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
He’s pleaded not guilty to all charges.
