Woman testifies R. Kelly sexually abused her when she was 16

Federal prosecutors in New York began their case against R. Kelly with graphic testimony from a woman who says the R&B singer sexually abused her when she was 16 years old, and that she has a T-shirt with his semen on it.

Jerhonda Johnson Pace, now 28, testified Wednesday that she was such a big fan of Kelly’s that she attended the singer’s Chicago trial for state child pornography charges in 2008. Kelly was acquitted of the charges in June 2008.

The year after the trial, Pace said Kelly invited her to his home in the suburbs of Chicago where Pace testified that she had a sexual relationship with the singer for about six months when she was 16. When the relationship ended months later, Pace said she gave a T-shirt that had Kelly’s semen on it to an attorney who was representing her.

Assistant US Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez said in her opening statement Wednesday that Kelly’s DNA was found in semen on the T-shirt.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for Kelly for comment on the DNA found on the T-shirt. Nicole Blank Becker, an attorney for Kelly, said in her opening statement that Pace “is a self-proclaimed liar.”

The singer, 54, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering and violating the Mann Act, an anti-sex trafficking law.

Separately from this case, Kelly faces federal child pornography and obstruction charges in the Northern District of Illinois, and faces state charges there for multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He has strongly denied the accusations.

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