New York Post, Tuesday, August 6, 2019
nypost.com
R. Kelly has been hit with
sex-crime charges in Min-
neapolis for allegedly pay-
ing an underage girl to strip
and then groping her in
2001, state prosecutors an-
nounced Monday.
Kelly — who is already
facing charges in Chicago
and Brooklyn — met the 17-
year-old girl in the Minne-
sota city in July of that year
when she asked him for an
autograph at a promotional
event, Hennepin County
State’s Attorney Mike Free-
man alleged.
The R&B singer invited
her to his hotel room,
where he allegedly offered
her $200 to dance naked for
him, and touched her geni-
tals and breasts, according
to the attorney.
Kelly, 52, was charged
with two counts of prostitu-
tion with a person under 18,
the attorney said.
In response to the charges,
Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Green-
berg, tweeted: “Re: New
charges @RKelly give me a
break. This is beyond ab-
surd.” Andrew DenneyYet more
charges
for Kelly
Colombia will grant citi-
zenship to at least 24,
children born to Venezue-
lan parents and at risk of
statelessness.
Many of the 1.4 million
Venezuelans now in Colom-
bia entered illegally, mean-
ing their children born in
the neighboring Andean
country didn’t qualify for
citizenship.
Children born to Venezu-
elan parents abroad are en-
titled to Venezuelan citi-
zenship but many have
been unable to access that
right because of severed
diplomatic ties. APColombia aids
V’zuela kids
R. KELLY
Paid teen to strip: authorities.By EBONY BOWDENThe Kennedy family gathered
Monday to once again mourn a
heartbreaking loss, as funeral
services were held for Robert F.
Kennedy’s granddaughter Sao-
irse Kennedy Hill, who died of a
suspected drug overdose on
Thursday.
Saoirse’s father, Paul Hill, was
inconsolable as he placed a hand
on the hearse carrying his 22-
year-old daughter’s body outside
Our Lady of Victory Church in
Cape Cod — less than five miles
from the Kennedy family com-
pound, where she was found in
cardiac arrest.
Massachusetts Rep. Joseph
Kennedy III, Hill’s cousin, and
Rep. Joseph Kennedy II, her un-
cle, were among those serving as
pallbearers, according to The
Boston Globe.
Kennedy matriarch and Robert
F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Skakel
Kennedy, 91, was seen wearing a
black dress and crucifix necklaceand had to be supported by rela-
tives as she was led into the
church.
A touching poem in the funeral
program titled “When Saoirse’s
Eyes Are Smiling” paid tribute to
the Boston College student’s in-
fectious laughter and smile, Cape
Cod Times reporter Jason Kolnos
tweeted.
After the ceremony, grim-faced
family members lined up to bid
farewell to the hearse as it de-
parted from the small church.
The family converged on theirwaterfront compound Thursday
and have spent the last three days
together, sharing stories about
Saoirse and going on a sailing
trip Friday in her memory.
Uncle Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
shared a photo of Hill’s dozens of
cousins gathered around a fire
pit. On Friday, he described his
niece’s death as “a wound too
large to ever heal.”
The Kennedy family spent
months trying to get Saoirse into
treatment for her depression be-
fore her death last week, a familyfriend told the Daily Mail.
Saoirse was the only daughter
of Paul and Courtney Kennedy
Hill, the fifth child of Ethel and
RFK, who was assassinated in
1968, and is the latest member of
the family to succumb to the so-
called “Kennedy curse.”
An autopsy found no signs of
trauma. Saoirse’s official cause of
death is pending a toxicology re-
port, the Cape and Islands Dis-
trict Attorney’s Office said.
The funeral Mass was followed
by a private burial.Kennedys mourn
Tearful
Saoirse
service
in Mass.
SOMBER: Sao-
irse Kennedy
Hill’s (oval) fa-
ther, Paul Hill,
places a hand on
the hearse that
would carry her
body from a
Cape Cod church
on Monday as
mom Courtney
Kennedy Hill
(right) looks on.
Family matriarch
Ethel Kennedy
(left), RFK’s
widow, was also
in attendance.ReutersAP
APEPA