R KELLY - PROSECUTION RESTS IN R KELLY 'SEX TAPE' CASE

PROSECUTION RESTS IN R KELLY 'SEX TAPE' CASE

Prosecutors have rested their case in the sex tape trial involving singer R Kelly after their key witness provided damning testimony.

The I Believe I Can Fly star is accused of filming himself engaging in sex acts with a girl who prosecutors say may have been as young as 13 at the time.

Testifying in Chicago, Lisa Van Allen, 27, said she had been involved in several sexual encounters with Kelly and the alleged victim.

Ms Van Allen told jurors she had first had sex with the R 'n' B star and the alleged victim in 1998, when she was 18, Kelly 30 years old and the girl allegedly shown in the video just 14.

She said the 41-year-old singer had offered her $250,000 (£127,000) in 2007 to recover a video of one of the encounters and described Kelly as a man obsessed with videotaping his sexual trysts, saying he had a duffel bag full of videos which he "carried... everywhere".

However, Kelly's defence team have accused her of trying to extort money from the singer and said her decision to testify is inspired by a desire to gain a reduced sentence on a weapons charge for a man with whom she lives.

"Van Allen is an admitted thief and liar who wouldn't know the truth if she tripped over it," Kelly's business manager, Derrel McDavid, said in a statement after she admitted to having once stolen a $20,000 (£10,000) diamond-studded watch belonging to Kelly from a hotel.

Kelly's defence team is to begin its prosecution on Wednesday, with the singer facing up to 15 years in prison if convicted.