A fresh allegation has been made against R Kelly, by an unnamed woman who says the R&B star sexually assaulted her when she was 13, and later infected her with herpes.
Police in Detroit are investigating the claims made by the woman, who says she and Kelly had sex at a hotel in the city in December 2001, and a few weeks later at a recording studio. The woman says she visited Kelly at his home over the next four years, eventually contracting herpes from him when she was 17.
“We are eagerly waiting to speak to the alleged victim,” Detroit police chief James Craig told CBS News.
It is the latest in a long series of sexual assault allegations made against Kelly, including those from women who were underage at the time of the claimed incidents. Kelly, who is in custody, has not responded to the new allegation, but has long denied all accusations against him, saying that any sexual relations have been consensual or that the alleged victims are lying.
Complaints have been made against Kelly as far back as 1996, but the number of them has escalated since July 2017, when he was accused of sexually, physically and emotionally abusing women in a ‘“sex cult”. Pressure increased on Kelly after a high-profile documentary about the allegations, which aired in January. He was arrested and charged with 10 new counts of sexual abuse last month. Nine of the counts relate to three women who were between the ages of 13 and 17 at the time of the assaults.
He posted bail, and appeared on CBS in an interview with Gayle King, in which he once again protested his innocence, saying: “I didn’t do this stuff, this is not me … all of them are lying.” He has since returned to jail, after failing to pay $161,000 in child support.
