R Kelly back in custody for failing to pay child support

SINGER R Kelly has been arrested for a second time in a few weeks – this time for failure to pay child support – just hours after lashing out in a television interview against charges that he had sexually assaulted teenage girls.

Kelly was taken into custody in Chicago for owing more than $US161,000 ($229,095) in child support to his three children with ex-wife Andrea Kelly. The singer must pay the full amount to get out of jail, the Cook County Sheriff’s spokesman said.

Kelly’s next hearing in the child support case is on Wedhis nesday and his next court date on the sex abuse charges is March 22.

Kelly, 52, pleaded not guilty in February to charges that he sexually assaulted three teenage girls and a fourth woman.

The charges were brought after seven women including ex-wife, appeared on a Lifetime television documentary and accused him of emotional and sexual abuse. He spent a weekend in jail on the sex charges before being released on $US100,000 bail on February 25.

His latest arrest came hours after CBS television aired parts of Kelly’s first interview since being charged, in which the singer tearfully and angrily rejected allegations that he had sex with underage girls.

“I have been assassinated. I have been buried alive,” the I Believe I Can Fly singer claimed.