R Kelly’s accusers who took the stand against him have shared their delight after the popular singer was convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering.
Jerhonda Johnson Pace, a woman who accused R Kelly of forcing her to perform oral sex on him when she was just 16 years old rejoiced on Monday, September 27, after R.Kelly was convicted in Brooklyn federal court of sex trafficking charges.
She celebrated news of the verdict on her Instagram page on Monday, posting a story on the app with the caption: ‘Verdict? Guilty.’
She also posted an image to her timeline showing a graphic that read: ‘Today, my voice was heard.’
‘G U I L T Y,’ she wrote in the caption of the post.
‘Today the jury found R. Kelly guilty. For years, I was trolled for speaking out about the abuse that I suffered at the hands of that predator,’ Pace wrote on Monday.
‘People called me a liar and said I had no proof. Some even said I was speaking out for money.
‘Speaking out about abuse is not easy, especially when your abuser is high-profile.
‘However, I DID IT.’
Pace said her coming forward ’caused a domino effect and so many people came forward.’
‘There are still some people that haven’t came forward. I’m so grateful to be a voice for those who didn’t have the courage,’ she wrote.
‘I’m thankful to stand with those who were brave enough to speak up.
‘I’m happy to FINALLY close this chapter of my life. I testified and the jury found him guilty.
‘No matter what you think of me or how you feel about things; today, I MADE HISTORY.
‘I wanna see you be brave.’
Pace also posted a photo of Joycelyn Savage, who lived with R Kelly for years as one of his girlfriends and publicly came out in support of the singer even as her family pleaded with her to come home.
‘Still hopeful that she will go back home to her family,’ Pace wrote of Savage on Monday.
‘She may not realize it now, but she also survived R. Kelly.’
Another woman who took the stand, identified only as Sonja, shared her delight at Kelly’s conviction with the Daily Beast.
She said she was ‘happy with the verdict and thankful that the jury listened to us.’
‘I’ve been hiding from Robert Kelly in fear, due to threats made against me, and I’m ready to start living my life free from fear, and to start the healing process,’ Sonja said.
The singer Sparkle, whose real name is Stephanie Edwards, knew R Kelly after he produced her first album. In 1997, she introduced her than-12-year-old niece to Kelly in the hope that he would help her aspiring rap career.
But in 2001 she saw the infamous video in which R Kelly is seen having sex with – and also urinating on – her niece. Edwards then called the police.
A year later, she gave a radio interview in which she went public with the allegation. In 2008, she also testified at R Kelly’s trial after he was charged with child pornography. He was eventually acquitted.
In 2019, Edwards was one of the women featured in the Lifetime documentary Surviving R Kelly.
She told The Cut on Monday that she wept after hearing of the verdict. She said her niece’s family has not spoken to her in more than a decade.
Edwards said she now feels vindicated after she was among the first to accuse Kelly of sex crimes at a time when few believed her.
‘At the first trial, nobody believed me,’ she told The Cut.
‘I hope all the girls, boys, and women affected by him are also breathing a sigh of relief.’
She added: ‘I was the Lone Ranger at first, and now I have my riders behind me.’
Edwards said that her niece has not been in contact with her since she went public with the allegation. The niece and her immediate family are believed to have been paid some $2million to keep quiet about the incident.
Several of R Kelly’s alleged underage victims were paid in similar fashion, it is believed.
‘We’re not in contact, but I’m definitely thinking of her and hoping that she’s okay,’ Edwards said of her niece.
‘Even if she doesn’t feel the same about me. I’m thinking of her first and then of all the others who were affected.’
She described to The Cut how her family reacted when she made them aware of the infamous tape.
‘I called my family, and initially my niece’s parents wanted to see it,’ Edwards said.
‘Then they changed their minds and stopped responding to me. Our relationship was done. Finito.’
She added: ‘I’m assuming Robert had gotten to them, but I’ll never really know what happened.
‘So I called the police. They took my statement, and then basically told me their hands were tied if my sister and brother-in-law didn’t want to speak.
I was trying to grasp, “How are you guys not getting this? This person has violated your 14-year-old daughter. Where are you guys?”
‘I have five siblings and except for one brother, there was basically no more communication with most of my family for the next ten years.’
The R&B star, whose legal name is Robert Kelly, was found guilty of all nine counts, including racketeering based on sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, forced labor, and other charges.
The guilty verdict was handed down on the second day of deliberations by a jury of seven men and five women at Brooklyn federal court on Monday.
The 54-year-old Kelly faces up to 100 years in prison – 20 years for racketeering, 10 for each of the sex trafficking convictions.
Sentencing is expected to take place on May 4, 2022. Kelly has remained in custody after being denied bail in his New York City case in October 2019.
