When opening up about his involvement in the trial against the 'I Believe I Can Fly' hitmaker, Demetrius Smith stresses that he doesn't want 'to be used as a witness to hurt' the singer.

• Dec 10, 2019

AceShowbiz - R. Kelly's former tour manager Demetrius Smith has suggested the singer should be given a "psych evaluation" so he can be given the help he needs, rather than being locked up in prison.

Smith, who penned the tome "The Man Behind The Man: Looking from the Inside Out" about his working relationship with Kelly, spoke to TMZ about his involvement in the trial against the singer, and revealed he will be testifying about the star's marriage to an underage Aaliyah.

However, Smith doesn't want his testimony to be used to put Kelly behind bars.

"I wrote it (the book), they read it, then I have to stand on my words but I don't want to use the words to prosecute Robert Kelly," he explained. "Because I feel like there's another part that people don't realise and understand about this whole thing."

"I don't want to be used as a witness to hurt Mr Kelly. I was sent for - I was ordered to talk to them (the prosecution). But I said what I wanted to say. It doesn't go well because people aren't looking at the big picture - they're just looking at locking somebody up or trying to create a case."

"Has he been a good person to everybody? I don't think he has, but at the same time we don't want to see him locked up."

As for how he thinks Kelly should be dealt with, Smith explained he thinks someone should check the singer's mental state.

"I think Robert should get a psych evaluation. And from there, I think we should help him, more than hurt him," he concluded.

Kelly is facing 13 counts of alleged sexual abuse with young girls in a multi-state federal case sparked by allegations made against the Ignition star in the documentary programme, "Surviving R. Kelly".