An American judge has ruled that a video that allegedly shows R&B star R Kelly having sex with an underage girl can be shown to the media and the wider public when it is presented as evidence in the upcoming court case against the singer. The video is key evidence in the long, long running case against Kelly relating to the underage sex claims - claims which have been around in one form or another for over three years but which are yet to come to court.
Defence lawyers had appealed for Judge Vincent Gaughan to restrict the viewing of the video to himself, the jurors and the legal representatives of both sides, saying that there was duty to protect the girl shown in the video, who is now 21 but was possibly as young as 13 when the video was filmed ('possibly' because, if I remember rightly, there is some dispute as to when the video was actually recorded). But Gaughan, who describes the video as "the whole crux and lynchpin of the case" ruled last week that there was no "overarching interest" in banning the tape from public view.
The public screening of the video is sure to heighten what is likely to already be frenzied media interest in this case, if and when it finally reaches court.