US singer R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his celebrity status to sexually abuse children and women.
Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday following his conviction last year on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges stemming from his efforts over years to use his fame to ensnare victims he sexually abused.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Kelly, 55, to more than 25 years behind bars, while his defense attorneys asked for 10 or fewer, saying prosecutors’ request was “tantamount to a life sentence.”
The R&B artist, 55, was convicted last September in New York of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes.
He had faced years of allegations and the judge on Wednesday said he had an “indifference to human suffering”.
Lawyers for the singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, say he will appeal.
Ahead of his sentencing, a handful of women took the stand to confront Kelly.
A woman identified only as Angela called the singer a Pied Piper who “grew in wickedness” with every new victim, while others who were not named testified he had broken their spirits.
I literally wished I would die because of how you made me feel,” said one.
Dressed in prison khakis and dark glasses, Kelly declined to make a statement of his own and did not react as the verdict was handed down.
