R Kelly’s ex-aide testifies, says he bribed official for singer to marry Aaliyah

R&B singer R Kelly’s former tour manager has testified that he bribed a government official in 1994 to secure a fake ID for the late singer Aaliyah, who was a minor at that time, so that both the singers could marry.

Demetrius Smith said he paid $500 for the fake ID, which was used by Kelly, then 27, to wed Aaliyah, who was only 15.

“I went to the welfare office, and I walked in, and I said: Hey wanna make some money?” Smith, who is now 65, told the jurors at the Brooklyn courthouse where Kelly is on trial after being accused of running a two-decade-long scheme where he recruited women and underage girls for sex.

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Smith told the jury that Kelly and his associates went ahead with the wedding plan after Aaliyah said she was pregnant, and Kelly feared “jail.”

He said that Kelly believed marriage could stop her from testifying against him if criminal charges were ever filed over his relationship with the teenager.

“It was to protect himself and to protect Aaliyah,” Smith was quoted as saying.

Smith said he had urged Kelly not to marry Aaliyah.

“I said he couldn’t marry her, and she was too young,” Smith said, adding that the singer's associates were seeing the wedding as a solution.

Others who testified against Kelly include Jerhonda Pace, 28, who alleged that Kelly abused her when she was 16, and also forced her to call him “Daddy" and ask for permission to use the bathroom.

Kelly, who is known for hits, including ‘I Believe I Can Fly’, ‘Bump n’ Grind’ and ‘If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time’, has been in jail for the last two years and was moved in June to Brooklyn from Chicago for the trial.