Stephanie “Sparkle” Edwards is the R n ‘B singer who introduced R Kelly to her niece, the underage girl at the centre of the R Kelly child pornography trial. Edwards delivered quite a performance when she testified against Kelly in his trial yesterday, telling the courtroom “It’s Robert and [my niece] on the tape. I know my family. I know them. Trust me. He made her do [those sexual acts],” she said. “She’s like a robot.”

Writes MTV.com: ‘Wearing a touch of silver glitter on her face, she testified that in December 2001, she got a phone call from an attorney telling her that a relative of hers was on a sex tape she needed to see, at which point an associate of the attorney’s came to her home and played her the tape. When she watched the recording, she said, she recognized her niece. “You know your blood,” Sparkle said. “She’s my niece. You just know your family. There’s no denying it. … She was my heart.”‘

Kelly’s attorney accused Edwards of testifying in revenge for Kelly dropping her from his record label. Edwards admitted she hadn’t had the same level of success on her sophomore album with Motown as she did with her Kelly-produced debut, and she hadn’t received any royalties from Kelly.

Kelly’s attorney accused her of being in on a scheme to either use the tape to extort Kelly or to make money by mass-producing it.

The trial continues.