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Closing arguments are under way at R Kelly’s abuse trial in New York, after the singer decided not to testify in court.

Warning: This article contains references to alleged sexual assault and abuse.

Kelly vehemently denies racketeering and other charges accusing him of sexually abusing women, girls, and boys during the course of his 30-year-career.

The jury in R Kelly's abuse trial has been sent out to deliberate. Pic: Reuters
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The jury in R Kelly’s abuse trial has been sent out to deliberate. Pic: Reuters

The defence only called a handful of witnesses across two days, compared to the dozens called by the prosecution in the previous weeks of the trial.

Kelly, 54, said on the record he would not testify at his own trial, as is his right, which would have put him in the witness box and available for cross-examination by lawyers.

The prosecution, led by assistant US attorney Elizabeth Geddes, said in closing the government had proved Kelly had told those around him to target, groom and exploit girls, boys and young women for his own sexual gratification.

Six weeks of testimony from more than 45 witnesses and other evidence “showed he did just that”, she said.

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Ms Geddes added that Kelly ruled his enablers with an iron fist, meaning he could get away with sexually abusing his victims.

Speaking to the jury, she said that the R&B singer’s assistants, drivers, bodyguards, and others employed by him made up a criminal enterprise, which resulted in the federal racketeering charges against him.

R Kelly listens in as the final closing arguments are made in his trial. Pic: Reuters
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R Kelly listens in as the final closing arguments are made in his trial. Pic: Reuters

“The defendant set rules, lots of them, and he demanded complete obedience,” she said, adding that meant “for many years, what happened in the defendant’s world stayed in the defendant’s world – but no longer”.

Ms Geddes said that Kelly had hid his crimes in “plain sight” by wielding his “money and public persona”.

A lawyer for Kelly is expected to also present a closing argument.

In this illustration drawn from a video feed, Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Geddes, bottom, presents her closing statement to the jury (not seen in video feed) while pointing to a large panel of photos of R. Kelly's inner circle and employees, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in New York. R. Kelly is seen seated at the defense table in inset on upper left. He is also seated far right at the bottom on the image. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)
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Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Geddes, at the bottom of the drawing, has presented her closing arguments to court. Pic: AP

On Tuesday, artist Da-Ni spoke as a defence witness, and claimed he had known Kelly since 2005, saying he shadowed him in the studio and at concerts, in order to “observe, learn and become.”

He told the court that he had never seen illicit activity by the singer towards the alleged victims.

Other defence witnesses made similar claims, with lawyers attempting to paint the alleged victims as star-struck fans whose relationships with Kelly did not work out.

Among the claims made by prosecution witnesses were that he gave a 17-year-old girl herpes “on purpose”, and that he sexually abused a teenage boy after asking him what he was willing to do to get into the music industry.

Kelly was also accused in court of marrying the singer Aaliyah when she was just 15, with claims that a former manager obtained a fake ID to make the wedding happen.

The trial continues.

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Harvey Weinstein accuser says film mogul ‘took her soul’ during alleged sexual assault

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Harvey Weinstein accuser says film mogul 'took her soul' during alleged sexual assault

An ex-model has tearfully told a court that being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein when she was 16 was the most “horrifying thing I ever experienced” to that point.

Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault

Kaja Sokola told the film producer’s retrial that he ordered her to remove her blouse, put his hand in her underwear, and made her touch his genitals.

She said he’d stared at her in the mirror with “black and scary” eyes and told her to stay quiet about the alleged assault in a Manhattan hotel in 2002.

Ms Sokola told the New York court that Weinstein had dropped names such as Penelope Cruz and Gwyneth Paltrow, and said he could help fulfil her Hollywood dream.

“I’d never been in a situation like this,” said Polish-born Ms Sokola. “I felt stupid and ashamed and like it’s my fault for putting myself in this position.”

Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone and is back in court for a retrial after his conviction was overturned last year.

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Read more: Weinstein is back in court – but what has happened to the #MeToo movement since 2017?

Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court during his rape and sexual assault re-trial in New York.
Pic Reuters
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Weinstein denies the allegations. Pic: Reuters

The 73-year-old is not charged over the alleged sexual assault because it happened too long ago to bring criminal charges.

However, he is facing charges over an incident four years later when he’s said to have forced Ms Sokola to perform oral sex on him.

Prosecutors claim it happened after Weinstein arranged for her to be an extra in a film.

“My soul was removed from me,” she told the court of the alleged 2006 assault, describing how she tried to push Weinstein away but that he held her down.

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Ms Sokola – who’s waived her right to anonymity – is the second of three women to testify and the only one who wasn’t part of the first trial in 2020.

Miriam Haley, an accuser testifying at Harvey Weinstein's rape trial, arrives to the courtroom after a break in New York, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Miriam Haley testified previously in the retrial. Pic: AP

Miriam Haley last week told the court that Weinstein forced oral sex on her in 2006. The other accuser, Jessica Mann, is yet to appear.

Claims against the film mogul were a major driver for the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and abuse in 2017.

Weinstein’s lawyers allege the women consented to sexual activity in the hope of getting film and TV work and that they stayed in contact with him for a while afterwards.

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Ochuko Ojiri: Bargain Hunt expert charged as part of police investigation into terrorist financing

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Ochuko Ojiri: Bargain Hunt expert charged as part of police investigation into terrorist financing

An antiques expert from the TV show Bargain Hunt has been charged by police following an investigation into terrorist financing.

Oghenochuko ‘Ochuko’ Ojiri, 53, is accused of eight counts of “failing to make a disclosure during the course of business within the regulated sector”, the Met Police said.

The force said he was the first person to be charged with that specific offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Mr Ojiri, from west London, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

It comes “following an investigation into terrorist financing” and relates to the period from October 2020 to December 2021, a police spokesperson said.

They added that the probe had been carried out in partnership with Treasury officials, HMRC and the Met’s Arts & Antiques Unit.

Mr Ojiri, who police described as an “art dealer”, has been on Bargain Hunt since 2019.

He has also appeared on the BBC‘s Antiques Road Trip programme.

In a statement, the BBC said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

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Man accused of harassing Jennifer Aniston for two years before crashing car through gates of her home

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Man accused of harassing Jennifer Aniston for two years before crashing car through gates of her home

A man has been charged after allegedly harassing Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston for two years before crashing his car through the front gate of her home, prosecutors have said.

Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, of New Albany, Mississippi, is accused of having repeatedly sent the Friends star unwanted voicemail, email and social media messages since 2023.

The 48-year-old is then alleged to have crashed his grey Chrysler PT Cruiser through the front gate of Aniston’s home in the wealthy Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles early on Monday afternoon.

Prosecutors said the collision caused major damage.

Police have said Aniston was at home at the time.

A security guard stopped Carwyle on her driveway before police arrived and arrested him.

There were no reports of anyone being injured.

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Carwyle has been charged with felony stalking and vandalism, prosecutors said on Thursday.

He also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of great bodily harm, Los Angeles County district attorney Nathan Hochman said.

Carwyle, who has been held in jail since his arrest on Monday, is set to appear in court on Thursday.

His bail has been set at $150,000 dollars (£112,742).

He is facing up to three years in prison if he is convicted as charged.

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“My office is committed to aggressively prosecuting those who stalk and terrorise others, ensuring they are held accountable,” Mr Hochman said in a statement.

Aniston bought her mid-century mansion in Bel Air on a 3.4-acre site for about 21 million dollars (£15.78m) in 2012, according to reporting by Architectural Digest.

She became one of the biggest stars on television in her 10 years on NBC’s Friends.

Aniston won an Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for nine more.

She has appeared in several Hollywood films and currently stars in The Morning Show on Apple TV+.

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