R Kelly back in trouble

Chicago – R&B singer R Kelly was arrested for a second time in recent weeks on Wednesday – this time for failure to pay child support – 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 $161 000 (about R2.3 million) in child support to his three children with ex-wife Andrea Kelly.

The singer must pay the full amount to get out of jail, Cook County Sheriff’s spokesperson Sam Randall said, following a court hearing over a Wednesday deadline for the money to be paid.

Kelly’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Andrea Kelly was not at the hearing and her attorney declined to comment.

Kelly’s next hearing in the child support case is on March 13 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 his 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 $100 000 bail on February 25.