R Kelly due in court over sex abuse allegations ‘involving new accuser’
R Kelly is due to appear in court later today over sex abuse allegations reportedly involving a new accuser.
The RnB singer is expected to plead not guilty to a 13-count indictment that was unsealed, or made public, in February, which includes multiple counts of child pornography.
While the charges against the 53-year-old are largely the same as the initial indictment, the reworked charging document also includes a reference to a new accuser, referred to as Minor 6, the AP news agency reports.
Kelly is due to appear at federal court in Chicago, Illinois, at 10am local time (4pm in the UK).
Prosecutors may offer additional details about the allegations against the Grammy award-winning singer during the hearing.
A trial date has been set for 27 April. However, this could be pushed back as defence attorneys have previously said they are not able to be prepared in time for that date.
Kelly, who has denied all allegations of abuse, faces several dozen counts of state and federal sexual misconduct charges in Illinois, Minnesota and New York, from sexual assault to heading a racketeering scheme aimed at supplying the star with girls.
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He was jailed in July and has been awaiting trial at a Chicago federal jail near to the courthouse, where he attends pre-trial hearings. He has participated in hearings in his New York case by video.
The federal charges in Chicago accuse Kelly of filming himself having sex with underage girls and of paying off potential witnesses during a trial in 2008 – at which he was acquitted – to get them to change their stories.
