Credit: Alamy

Buka Abi, the daughter of R Kelly, has alleged that her father, who is currently in prison, sexually assaulted her when she was a child.

Earlier this year, a federal court upheld R Kelly’s conviction and his 20-year prison sentence for possessing child pornography and child enticement. Furthermore, in September, he was found guilty of six of 13 counts of owning and producing child pornography and enticing a minor.

Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he will serve simultaneously alongside his original jail term. In total, Kelly will now serve 31 years in prison and will not be eligible for release until he is 80 years old.

He is now the subject of the new documentary series, R Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, which is hosted by Buka Abi. The first episode is now available to stream, and sees Abi allege her father of sexual abuse.

In the documentary, she alleges: “He was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me. I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”

Abi also details the impact that the alleged incident has had on her life, adding, “I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life and changed who I was as a person and changed the sparkle I had and the light I used to carry. After I told my mom, I didn’t go over there anymore; my brother [Robert] and sister [Jaah], we didn’t go over there anymore. And even up until now I struggle with it a lot.”

In the second episode, Boku graphically recalled the alleged assault, claiming: “I just remember waking up to him touching me. And I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep.”

While Abi said she, along with her mother, went to the police with the allegations which they filed under the pseudonym of ‘Jane Doe’, it didn’t materialise in a prosecution. She alleged: “They couldn’t prosecute him because I waited too long. So, at that point in my life, I felt like I said something for nothing.”

Kelly has denied these allegations through his attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, who said: “Mr. Kelly vehemently denies these allegations. His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded.”

The statement continued: “And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims.”

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.