R Kelly Trial Continues
The Pied Piper's personal physician of 25 years, Kris McGrath, took the stand Thursday to testify about his treatment of the singer's genital herpes since at least 2007. Prosecutors allege the singer knowingly infected multiple people with herpes. Which is in violation of public health laws that require people who have an infectious venereal disease to notify their partners about their diagnosis.
McGrath suspected Kelly had genital herpes as early as June 2000 because of symptoms the singer had, but a lab test to detect the virus at the time came back negative. Timing of the test is important, the test itself can give false negative results. At that time, McGrath told the singer to "inform your sexual partners so they can make a decision whether or not to have sex with you."
Anthony Navarro testified Friday that working for the singer was far stranger than others gigs with artists such as Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Taylor Swift. He said, “It was almost like the Twilight Zone. Once you went into the gate. It’s just a strange place. It was a weird time for me. The things that you had to do was just a bit uncomfortable.”
Navarro worked for Kelly at his mansion in the Chicago suburbs between 2008 and 2009. He said he drove young women to and from the airport, cleaned the house, picked up food, and other chores around the complex.
In regards to the young women, Navarro was not allowed to speak to any that Kelly had as guests. They also had to remain where Kelly wanted them in the house, saying, “The general rule was, if they’re not where they’re supposed to be, you’d have to call Rob or a manager." Navarro testified that he never saw anyone having sex in the house.
Navarro’s testimony bolstered the prosecutor's contention that Kelly created an environment where girls and women faced strict rules that gave them little choice but to submit to the singer’s sexual whims.
Jerhonda Pace, one of Kelly’s underage victims said she had a six-month sexual relationship with the singer when she was just 16, testifying about how Kelly forced her to wear pigtails and dress up like a Girl Scout for sex that he recorded. Pace said after a few months of having unprotected sex with Kelly, she developed herpes.
Former R Kelly tour manager, Demetrius Smith testified on Friday that he paid a $500 bribe to a government worker to get the singer Aaliyah a fake identification card so Kelly could secretly marry her when she was 15 years old. He told the worker, “Hey, want to make some money? Everybody needs some money.”
The welfare card was one of two fake IDs acquired to allow Kelly to marry Aaliyah after he began a sexual relationship with her and believed she had become pregnant. A marriage license put into evidence falsely listed her age as 18. Kelly was 27 at the time.
Aaliyah, whose full name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, 'Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number'. She died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.
