 |
|
|
The R. Kelly prosecution finished its case Monday after star
witness Lisa Van Allen testified about the inappropriate sexual relationship
she was involved in, with the singer and the alleged 13-year-old victim.
Van Allen testified that, starting in late 1997, she
participated in more than one threesome with the R&B singer and the girl on
the sex tape. Both the alleged victim, who is now aged 23, and Kelly have
denied that they are the ones on the video.
Van Allen, 27, got emotional and started crying as she
described her three-way sexual encounters with the singer and the teen, some of
which she claimed Kelly videotaped. During the three-hour testimony, she also
told jurors that Kelly offered her $250,000 last year to recover a tape of one
of the trysts. Defense attorneys challenged her credibility, calling her a liar,
and accused her of plotting to extort money from the singer, which she denied.
Eventually, she admitted she once stole Kelly’s $20,000 diamond-studded watch
from a hotel.
That caused Derrel McDavid, Kelly's business manager, to
call Van Allen in a statement “an admitted thief and liar who wouldn't know the
truth if she tripped over it.”
Van Allen said Kelly told her the alleged victim was 16 when
he introduced them to each other. The age of legal consent in Illinois is 17.
The three-way sex encounters took place in the same home in
Chicago where prosecutors say the sex tape at the center of the case was made,
Van Allen, who is now four-months pregnant, said. She described Kelly as obsessed
with videotaping his sex trysts, testifying that he even carried around with
him a duffel bag containing all of his homemade sex tapes.
Van Allen said she met Kelly at the making of a music video
in Georgia about 10 years ago. She later appeared in several of Kelly’s music videos.
Kelly, 41, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of
child pornography for allegedly videotaping himself having sex with the alleged
victim.
© 2007 - 2009 - eFluxMedia