Woman who says R. Kelly abused her as a virgin, 16, returns to testify on day two of his trial

Jurors on R. Kelly’s trial will hear more testimony from the woman who said the R&B star lured her to his mansion when she was a 16-year-old virgin, made her call him ‘daddy’ and choked her until she passed out, on day two of his federal sex abuse trial in New York.

Jerhonda Pace, 28, is expected to take the stand in Brooklyn’s Federal District Court again Thursday to tell the court about the six months of alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of Kelly.

Pace, named in court as ‘Jane Doe No. 4,’ was the first witness called by the prosecution Wednesday on the first day of Kelly’s long-awaited trial.

She is one of six women in the nine-count federal indictment which could see the biggest star in R&B spend the rest of his life behind bars.  

Kelly is accused of being the ringleader of a criminal enterprise for more than two decades where he and his entourage procured women, underage boys and girls for Kelly’s sexual pleasure, abused and controlled his victims and used sex tapes to blackmail them.  

Some of the victims were also allegedly trafficked across state lines for sex with the singer while he allegedly gave two of the accusers herpes by having unprotected sex with them and not disclosing he had the virus.

Jurors on R. Kelly’s trial will hear more testimony from the woman who said the R&B star lured her to his mansion when she was a 16-year-old virgin, made her call him ‘daddy’ and choked her until she passed out on day two of his federal sex abuse trial in New York. R. Kelly left and Jerhonda Pace right

Jerhonda Pace is shown a blue T-shirt that she told the court she had wiped R. Kelly’s spit and semen on in 2010 when she was 16 and he was 42

He is charged with nine counts including racketeering, sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, bribery, sex trafficking and forced labor between 1994 and 2018 relating to six alleged victims. 

At least three of the alleged victims were underage and all were aged between 15 and 22 at the time of the alleged crimes. 

One of the six women is late singer Aaliyah who Kelly married when she was just 15 and he was 27. Kelly is accused of bribing an Illinois official in 1994 to obtain fake ID for Aaliyah so they could wed in a scheme to silence the teen who was reportedly pregnant with his child.  

Kelly strongly denies all the accusations. 

He faces up to life in prison if convicted on all counts and is also facing separate state and federal charges in Illinois and Minnesota. 

Pace testified Wednesday that she first met Kelly aged just 14 when she attended every day of his 2008 child pornography trial – in which he was found not guilty due to lack of sufficient evidence.

She said she then met up with Kelly at a party two years later when she was 16 and they began a sexual relationship. 

When she told him her age and that she was a virgin, Kelly allegedly told her he was happy she was a virgin and urged her to pretend to be 21.  

Over the next six months, Kelly forced her to follow his ‘rules’, took away her cell phone, denied her food or using the bathroom without his permission, and made her call him ‘daddy’, she told the court Wednesday.

Pace told jurors she last saw Kelly in 2010 when he spit on her, slapped her and choked her until she passed out. When she came around, he allegedly made her perform oral sex on him and he ejaculated on her face. 

The court was shown the blue t-shirt that Pace said she used to wipe Kelly’s semen off her face following the encounter. The prosecution said it contained his DNA.

Before Pace took the stand, the defense and prosecution gave their opening statements kicking off the trial that is expected to last around a month.  

Prosecutors described the 54-year-old as a ‘predator’ who used ‘every trick in the predator handbook’ to groom his victims, blackmailed them with sex tapes and violently beat them if they failed to comply with his demands.  

However, Kelly’s attorney instead claimed that Kelly was the victim of ‘fans’ who wanted the ‘notoriety of being with a superstar’ and sought to discredit the accusers, telling jurors they will have to wade through ‘a mess of lies’. 

The jury – of seven men and five women – are expected to hear testimony from multiple accusers during the trial including four of the five surviving accusers in the indictment – identified as Stephanie, Sonja, Jerhonda, Zel and Faith. 

Defense sttorneys Thomas Farinella and Nicole Becker arrive for the second day of R. Kelly’s trial at Brooklyn Federal Court

The prosecution arriving Thursday for day two of the trial where the court will hear again from accuser Jerhonda Pace

Cooperating former associates are also expected to take the witness stand to testify how Kelly’s managers, bodyguards and other employees helped him recruit women and girls – and sometimes boys – for sexual exploitation.     

Kelly was arrested on these federal charges in New York in 2019 and has been held behind bars for almost two years in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn – the same jail housing Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell.

The R&B star’s arrest and trial has been years in the making after he has faced accusations of sex abuse for decades, ever since his relationship with the Aaliyah came under the spotlight in 1994. 

Allegations of sex tapes involving young girls started emerging and he was arrested on child porn charges in 2003. 

The singer went to trial on these charges in Chicago in 2008 but was acquitted due to a lack of evidence, freeing him to revive his music career.

The allegations caught up with him again when several women spoke out about the alleged abuse by the star – and the coverup of his actions and silencing of his accusers by his inner circle – in the Lifetime documentary ‘Surviving R. Kelly.’

Kelly is perhaps best known for his smash hit ‘I Believe I Can Fly,’ a 1996 song that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere.   

R. Kelly pictured in September 2019 in court in Chicago. Prosecutors said Wednesday the singer is a ‘predator’

Day one of R. Kelly’s trial: ‘Predator’ R. Kelly ‘said ‘that’s good’ when fan club member, 16, told him she was a virgin and once ‘choked her until she passed out’, first accuser tells the court     

On day one of R. Kelly’s trial: 

• Accuser Jerhonda Pace told the court she was sexually abused by Kelly when she was 16 
• She told the court Kelly was happy she was a 16-year-old virgin because he wanted to ‘train her’ sexually 
• He forced her to follow his ‘rules’, took away her cell phone, denying her food or using the bathroom without permission, and making her call him ‘daddy’, she told the court
• Pace told the court Kelly choked her unconscious in one incident in 2010 then made her perform oral sex on him; the court was shown the shirt Pace said she wiped Kelly’s semen on from the encounter
• Prosecutors described Kelly as a ‘predator’ who groomed his victims, blackmailed them with sex tapes and violently beat them if they didn’t comply with his demands
• The defense claimed Kelly was the victim of ‘fans’ who wanted the ‘notoriety of being with a superstar’ and told jurors they would be faced with a ‘mess of lies’
• Prosecutors said one alleged victim named ‘Sonja’ will testify that the singer locked her in a room for three days and sexually abused her while she was unconscious 
• The judge denied the defense’s final bid to dismiss the case, where they had argued herpes is not life-threatening so Kelly shouldn’t be charged with passing the STD to a minor 
• The judge also granted prosecutors permission to include evidence they claim shows sexual abuse by the star back in 1991 and which relates to the charges over his marriage to Aaliyah 

On day one of R. Kelly’s trial, the court heard from Jerhonda Pace, one of six women in the federal indictment, who said she was sexually abused by the star when she was 16. 

Pace testified that she first met Kelly aged 14 when she attended every day of his 2008 child pornography trial before meeting up with him again at a party two years later when she was 16 and he was 42. She said she told him initially she was 19.

Kelly then allegedly invited her to his mansion a few days later and told her to put on her swimsuit and disrobe in front of him.

When the two began kissing and he performed oral sex on her, she told the court she ‘felt uncomfortable’ lying about her age and told him she was actually 16 and showed him her state ID.

Kelly allegedly responded ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ and urged her to keep saying she was 19 and ‘act 21’.

Kelly was allegedly happy she was a virgin, telling her ‘that’s good’ and said he ‘was going to train me on how to please him sexually,’ she testified. 

Pace said she continued to see and have sex with Kelly over the next six months, with Kelly often filming their encounters.

During this time, Kelly allegedly made her follow a strict set of rules, including making her wear baggy clothes, having her call him ‘Daddy,’ taking her cell phone away and forbidding her from eating food or using the bathroom without his permission. 

Pace said she was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement, and a letter full of false admissions that claimed she had stolen money and jewelry from him, which prosecutors allege was a form of blackmail by Kelly.  

On the final day she spent in Kelly’s house in 2010, Pace said she was distracted and didn’t immediately acknowledge Kelly’s presence when he entered so he slapped her and choked her until she passed out. 

When she came around, he allegedly spat in her face and told her to put her head down in shame before making her perform oral sex on him.

Pace said Kelly ejaculated on her face and she wiped Kelly’s spit and semen on a blue T-shirt that was presented in court Wednesday as evidence. 

Kelly (pictured in a court sketch Wednesday) is accused of being the ringleader of an underage sex ring involving women, underage boys and girls going back more than two decades

In the prosecution’s opening statements, Assistant US Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez told the jury Kelly used ‘every trick in the predator handbook’ to groom his victims, blackmailed them with sex tapes and violently beat them if they failed to comply with his demands.   

‘This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party a lot,’ she said. ‘This case is about a predator.’   

The prosecutor said Kelly lured in children and women by inviting them to join him after shows with backstage passes then ‘dominated and controlled them physically, sexually and psychologically.’ 

Kelly allegedly made his victims create sex tapes that he then used to blackmail them into silence and would punish his victims with ‘violent spankings and beatings’ if they didn’t do what he demanded of them.  

However, Kelly’s defense instead claimed he was the victim of ‘fans’ who wanted the ‘notoriety of being with a superstar’ and had enjoyed ‘beautiful’, consensual relationships with him and were now turning on him.  

Attorney Nicole Blank Becker accused the alleged victims of lying, warning jurors they’ll have to sort through ‘a mess of lies’ from women with an agenda.

‘We believe their testimony will crumble,’ Becker told jurors. 

‘There will be so many untruths told to you, ladies and gentlemen, that even the government won’t be able to untangle the mess of lies.’ 

‘Don’t assume everybody’s telling the truth,’ she added.  

Before opening statements, Judge Ann Donnelly threw out the defense’s final last-ditch attempt to dismiss the case.

Kelly’s attorneys had argued herpes is not life-threatening so Kelly shouldn’t be charged with passing it to a minor. 

They specifically argued the herpes exposure charge should be dropped because herpes is a virus and not ‘an acute, bacterial venereal disease such as syphilis or gonorrhea.’ 

They also argued that racketeering charges should be dismissed because they said they fell outside the five-year statute of limitations.  

The judge denied the request to dismiss the case early Wednesday.

She also ruled on other motions, including granting prosecutors permission to include evidence they claim shows sexual abuse by the star back in 1991 and which relates to the charges over his marriage to Aaliyah.