Survivors of R. Kelly's Sex Abuse React to His 30-Year Prison Sentence: 'Don't Think It's Enough'

Following R. Kelly's 30-year prison sentence for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions, survivors of the disgraced R&B singer are speaking out.

Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, a survivor named Sonja, whose last name was not used to protect her privacy, said the decades-long sentence was "spot on" for Kelly's crimes, which included locking her in a Chicago hotel room for days and assaulting her.

"Thirty years is spot on for me," she told the outlet.

"I have been enduring this for almost two decades," she said. "I am very happy with the sentence. Very happy."

Sonja said the assault happened in her early 20s, during a visit to Chicago. She said she was lured with the promise of an interview with the singer — whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly — while interning at a Utah radio station.

What would follow would be years of threats by people in the singer's circle, she shared.

"Before I left Chicago, I was told not to 'f--- with Mr. Kelly,' that I wasn't supposed to tell anybody," Sonja said, according to the Times. "I never got my interview."

Speaking to reporters outside the Brooklyn courthouse Wednesday, survivor Lizzette Martinez, 45, who was 17 at the time Kelly's abuse began, said although she is pleased Kelly will spend decades behind bars, she wished the sentence were longer.

"I don't know what else to say except that I'm grateful," said Martinez, per the LA Times. "I'm grateful for today. And I'm grateful that Robert Sylvester Kelly is away and will stay away and will not be able to harm anyone else."

"I personally don't think it's enough, but I'm pleased with it," she added, according to The New York Times.

Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking last year, during a six-week trial that included testimony from 45 witnesses in a Brooklyn courtroom.

At the time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes said Kelly masterminded a scheme to "target, groom and exploit girls, boys and women," the Times reported.

Leading up to the trial was decades of allegations of physical and sexual abuse that swirled around the singer, who was previously acquitted in 2008 on child pornography charges.

In an indictment following his 2019 arrest, prosecutors said Kelly and his team — including managers, bodyguards and assistants — "traveled throughout the United States and abroad to perform at concert venues … and to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with Kelly" as far back as 1999.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.

According to the indictment, the singer allegedly required his victims to follow "numerous rules" in which they "were not permitted to leave their room without receiving permission, including to eat or go to the bathroom," were "not permitted to look at other men" and "were required to call Kelly 'Daddy.'"

Judge Ann M. Donnelly, who handed down Kelly's sentence Wednesday, called the crimes "calculated" and "carefully planned."

"These crimes were calculated and carefully planned and regularly executed for almost 25 years," she told the singer directly in the courtroom, the Times reports. "You taught them that love is enslavement and violence."

PEOPLE's request for comment from Kelly's lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, was not immediately returned.

Outside the courthouse Wednesday, she denied the characterization of Kelly as a "predator," telling reporters he is "sad" with his sentence.

"He has regrets, and he is sad," Bonjean said, the outlet reports. "He disagrees with the characterizations that have been made about him."

Kelly is again due back in court Aug. 15 — this time in Chicago — where he faces federal charges of producing child pornography and luring minors into sex acts, according to the outlet.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.