I Was In Shock: R Kelly Trial Update

R Kelly

So, the prosecution wheeled in another witness yesterday who is convinced it is R Kelly who appears in that much previously reported sex tape.

Anyway, another day in the R Kelly trial in Chicago where the R&B star is accused of filming himself having sex with a minor. He denies the charges, claiming it is not him in the video at the centre of the trial, and nor is the girl who is also seen who the prosecution claim she is.

Prosecution lawyers have been calling to the witness stand various people who knew Kelly and/or the alleged victim, and asking them to say that - despite the blurriness - they are certain it is Kelly and/or the girl in the vid. Yesterday it was the turn of Lindsey Perryman, who told the court that she worked for Kelly as a producer and PA on and off from 2000 to 2007.

She said she didn't see the video - despite all the coverage of it - until December 2007 when approached by prosecutors. She said she didn't want to believe it was Kelly in the video because he was a "great boss" and had been "very, very good to me". She added "I was in shock and I wanted to be 110% sure". So, she said, she looked at an album cover featuring Kelly and then watched the video a second time, after which she was 110% sure [a] that it was Kelly seen in the sex tape and that [b] she knew the identity of the girl, who, she added, she had met at Kelly's studio while working for him.

Two other witnesses added their support to the prosecution's claims regarding the identity of the girl. One of those witnesses was one Tjada Burnett, a family friend of the alleged victim, who said she could identify the girl by her "cheeks, her nose, her facial structure", adding that the girl would be about 12 or 13 at the time the tape was made.

The case continues.