R. Kelly married Aaliyah when she was FIFTEEN in a ceremony that lasted 10 minutes and obscured her face with her hair so Chicago pastor wouldn't see her true age, court hears

R. Kelly married R&B singer Aaliyah when she was just 15 in a 10-minute ceremony held inside a Chicago hotel room, a New York court has heard. 

Pastor Nathan Edmond, who conducted the 1994 nuptials, testified Wednesday via video link at Kelly's sex abuse trial which is currently being held at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn. 

Edmond alleged that he was recruited to marry Kelly, who was aged 27 at the time, after he was shown a falsified document that stated Aaliyah was 18.  

'I didn't know it was anyone special,' Edmond stated. 'You couldn't see her whole face because her hair was over half of her face.' 

Aaliyah, whose full name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, 'Age Ain´t Nothing But A Number.'

Late last month, Kelly's former tour manager, Demetrius Smith, testified to the same court that he bribed a government worker with $500 to obtain Aaliyah's fake ID so that Kelly could marry her. 

He reportedly feared that he had gotten Aaliyah pregnant, which would out him as having had sex with an underage girl.  

Prosecutors say Kelly wanted to use the marriage to shield himself from criminal charges related to having sex with a minor and to prevent her from testifying against him.  

The marriage was annulled in 1995 by Aaliyah's parents, who did not know about the wedding before it occurred. She tragically died in a plane crash six years later at the age of 22.  

Pastor Nathan Edmond, who conducted the 1994 nuptials, testified Wednesday via video link at Kelly's sex abuse trial which is currently being held at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn.

R. Kelly is pictured with Aaliyah in the mid-1990s. They married in August 1994, when Kelly was 27 and Aaliyah was 15. The marriage was annulled by her parents in 1995. 

Pastor Edmond told the court Wednesday that he performed the ceremony at Sheraton Gateway Suites near Chicago's O'Hare Airport. 

He claimed Kelly and Aaliyah wore matching sweatsuits, and that they both had one leg of their sweatpants rolled up to the knee. 

Wednesday's testimony was the first time Edmond publicly spoke about the ceremony. 

He stated that Kelly had asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement before he conducted the nuptials, but he declined.

'I kind of chuckled...  I said it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. It should have been more airtight,' Edmond stated. 

Despite refusing to sign the NDA, Edmond says he never spoke to the media because he gave Kelly his 'word' that he would not. 

Aaliyah, who released the album Age Ain't Nothing But A Number, just three months before she illegally wed Kelly, did not tell her parents about the union

After their secret, low-key wedding, Kelly and Aaliyah denied rumors that they had tied the knot. 

There were also whispers that Aaliyah was expecting Kelly's baby, with one writer telling VIBE magazine in 1994: 'I've been hearing about Robert and Aaliyah for a while—that she was pregnant. Or that she was coming and going in and out of his house.'

Aaliyah is pictured at age 15 back in 1994. The world-famous musician died in a plane crash in 2001

Meanwhile, a former live-in girlfriend of Kelly's last month testified that the singer told her that he only married Aaliyah so that she could get an abortion.  

Aaliyah never confirmed the pregnancy. She went on to have a glittering career as an actress and singer before her untimely death in 2001. 

Maria Cruz Melendez, an assistant U.S. attorney, told the court during opening statements at Kelly's trial last month: 'Aaliyah met the defendant in approximately 1992, when she was about twelve years old. Aaliyah had a gift. She was a talented singer, and people thought that she could make it far in the industry, so the defendant began to produce and write music for Aaliyah when she was still a child. 

'Shortly after he began working with her, the defendant began to engage in sexual activity with her. And for years while Aaliyah was a minor, too young to even consent to sex, he continued to engage in sexual activity with her that lasted several years.'

Back in 2019, Kelly's lawyer, Steven Greenberg, claimed his client had 'no idea' Aaliyah was underage at the time of their marriage.  

Aaliyah died tragically in a plane crash in the Bahamas in 2001  

Prosecutors allege that Kelly trafficked women and girls across state lines. He is facing a maximum of life behind bars. He is pictured in 2019 

Meanwhile on, Wednesday, the court also heard testimony from another alleged victim of Kelly's who claimed that the singer kept a gun by his side while he berated her before  forcing her to give him oral sex. 

'He had a weapon, so I wasn´t going to step out of line,' the woman said while recounting the 2018 episode. 

She said that at the time she spotted Kelly with a gun, he demanded to know, 'How many men have you seen naked?' He also instructed her to act 'excited like a puppy' and added: 'I still have a lot to teach you.' 

She testified that she saw Kelly on multiple occasions. 

Their last encounter came inside a New York City hotel suite, where she resisted having sex with him. She said he responded by warning her not to defy him, saying, 'I'm a f--ing legend.'

R Kelly is pictured listening to evidence during Wednesday's hearing. He denies charges of racketeering 

Kelly has repeatedly denied accusations that he preyed on victims during a 30-year career. His lawyers have portrayed his accusers as groupies who are lying about their relationships with him.

The trial has so far featured a steady stream of accusers claiming Kelly began sexually degrading them when they were still in their teens. They said he used his stardom to lure them into an insular world where he watched their every move and doled out perverse punishments, spanking them and isolating them in hotel rooms if they broke a vow to never speak about him to anyone else.

Kelly´s personal physician has also testified, saying he treated him for herpes for several years.

Many of the sex-related misconduct allegations were discussed in the 2019 Lifetime documentary 'Surviving R. Kelly.' 

On Monday, Kelly's first male accuser testified that he offered him help with his music career in exchange for sexual favors.

The man, testifying under the pseudonym Louis, said he was 17 when Kelly first started making sexual advances at him.

Kelly faces between 10 years and life in prison if convicted on all counts. 

THE CHARGES R. KELLY IS ON TRIAL FOR IN NEW YORK: 

R. Kelly is standing trial in Brooklyn federal court accused of being the ringleader of a sex ring involving women and underage girls and boys.

The charges were first brought in a five-count superseding indictment in Brooklyn federal court in July 2019.

In March 2020, he was slapped with additional charges upgrading the case to a nine-count indictment.

The charges relate to allegations involving six alleged victims - five women named as Jane Does in the indictment and the singer Aaliyah. These charges are:

ONE COUNT OF RACKETEERING

The racketeering charge includes 14 underlying acts including: one act of bribery, three acts of sexual exploitation of a child, one act of kidnapping, three acts of forced labor and six acts of violating the Mann Act.

Racketeering charges are used where there is an 'enterprise', mob or mafia running organized crime operations.

In this case, Kelly is accused of running a racketeering 'enterprise' for two decades made up of his 'inner circle' of managers, bodyguards and other employees who would help him recruit women, girls and boys for him to sexually exploit and traffic them around the US.

To convict Kelly on the racketeering charge, he must be found guilty of at least two of the 14 acts.

EIGHT COUNTS OF VIOLATING THE MANN ACT

The Mann Act is a federal law that makes it illegal to traffic people across state lines for prostitution or illegal sexual activity.

Four of these charges relate to an incident involving Jane Doe #5 in 2015 while the other four involve Jane Doe #6 in separate incidents in May 2017 and February 2018.

Three of these charges involve Kelly allegedly exposing the two women to herpes without informing them.