Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Sparkle's Sister Testifies Against R. Kelly


Last week R. Kelly's former protégé Stephanie 'Sparkle' Edwards released a video statement calling her niece a liar after she testified under oath that Sparkle encouraged her to seduce R. Kelly while she was underage [click here if you missed that]. 

This week Sparkle's sister took the stand...

From The Daily Mail 

...the mother of one of his accusers told how she and her husband were left fearing for their lives when the singer confronted them over their allegations.
She told told jurors she lied to a state grand jury 20 years ago in part because she and her husband felt threatened by Kelly if they told the truth.
Using the pseudonym, 'Susan,' she told how she and her husband confronted Kelly at a hotel in the early 2000s about whether he was abusing their daughter.
She testified that they were startled when the singer told them, 'You are with us or against us.'
She said she took those words to mean 'that they were going to harm us if we didn't do what they wanted us to do.'
Among the directives from Kelly and an associate was that they had to lie that their daughter was not in a child pornography video and that they had to leave the country immediately for several weeks, she testified.
'We were very, very frightened,' she told jurors.
She added later that she lied to the grand jury 'because we feared for our lives and we were intimidated.'
She said she also feared for the well-being of her daughter, who warned her parents at the time she might commit suicide if they refused to do what Kelly asked of them.
On Monday, in an often contentious cross-examination, Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean repeatedly questioned Susan about whether she truly felt her life was in any danger from Kelly or his associates.
'No one actually threatened you, did they?' Bonjean asked. 'Yes, they did,' Susan answered.
Bonjean also asked why, if Susan felt so threatened by Kelly, she and her family continued to mix with Kelly socially for the next 20 years.
She answered that Kelly was their sole income for a period, paying her musician husband to work on Kelly recordings.
She also said she worried about Jane's welfare if they cut ties with Kelly. The husband, Jane's father, died last year, she told jurors.