Cassie Ventura broke down in tears in court docket as she described her “personal shame” at collaborating in “freak off” intercourse classes for Sean Combs – and likewise accused him of raping her as their relationship got here to an finish.
Throughout her second day of testimony, the singer and mannequin instructed jurors of a number of alleged violent incidents and mentioned the hip-hop mogul, who was often called Puff Daddy and Diddy all through his profession, blackmailed her with compromising movies.
At one level, the courtroom in Manhattan, New York, fell silent as sexually specific pictures from “freak offs” have been proven to jurors, however stored personal from the general public gallery. These included pictures of Ms Ventura and escorts.
Combs requested his lawyer Marc Agnifilo to see a binder of the pictures, and thumbed via it for a couple of moments earlier than handing it again.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Day 3 – Because it occurred
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Combs watched as lodge CCTV was performed within the courtroom
The 55-year-old, as soon as one of the vital highly effective males within the music trade, has pleaded not responsible to prices of sex-trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to interact in prostitution.
Prosecutors allege he used his fame and fortune to coerce Ms Ventura and different girls into abusive intercourse classes with escorts. His attorneys have conceded he might be violent, however argue that each one sexual encounters have been consensual and he by no means veered into intercourse trafficking and racketeering.
Ms Ventura, who’s closely pregnant along with her third little one, stored calm and composed for many of her proof on Wednesday, however broke down on the finish of the day when requested why she had chosen to testify.
“I can’t carry this anymore,” she instructed the court docket. “I can’t carry the shame, the guilt, the way he treated people like they were disposable. What’s right is right, what’s wrong is wrong. I came here to do the right thing.”
Early in 2023, she mentioned she began affected by “flashbacks” and had suicidal ideas, so went to rehab and trauma remedy.
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Jurors have been proven pictures of bruises on Ms Ventura’s physique
It’s “impossible to know” what number of “freak offs” she participated in, nevertheless it was within the a whole lot, she instructed the court docket. Requested if she has been concerned in any since ending the connection in 2018, she replied: “No.”
Ms Ventura, 38, alleged that Combs raped her at her residence in Los Angeles, after she instructed him she was ending issues.
“I just remember crying and saying no, but it was very fast,” she mentioned, her voice trailing off.
She instructed jurors she did have consensual intercourse with the rapper on a subsequent event. “We’d been together for over 10 years. You just don’t turn feelings off,” she mentioned.
Ms Ventura sued Combs in November 2023, and settled inside 24 hours. She obtained £20m, the trial was instructed.
Combs ‘threatened Cassie and Child Cudi’
Ms Ventura’s second day of testimony additionally included particulars of how she briefly dated Scott Mescudi, higher often called singer and rapper Child Cudi, throughout a low level in her relationship with Combs in 2011.
Combs lunged at her with a corkscrew and kicked her within the again when he discovered, jurors heard, and threatened to explode Mescudi’s automobile.
These allegations have been additionally detailed in her lawsuit, which alleged his automobile did “explode in his driveway” round this time.
Throughout a number of hours on the stand, Ms Ventura instructed how she hid the extent of Comb’s alleged violence from family members, and described one incident when she allegedly suffered a “pretty significant gash” above her left eye after he threw her right into a mattress body.
Moderately than go to hospital, his safety workers took her to a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, she mentioned.
The lodge CCTV ‘assault’
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CCTV footage exhibits Diddy ‘attacking’ Cassie in lodge
An incident at a lodge in Los Angeles in March 2016, which has come up a number of instances through the trial already, was additionally mentioned once more.
CCTV from the lodge, which was first launched by CNN in Might 2024, confirmed Combs allegedly beating Ms Ventura in a hallway.
Jurors have been proven images of her with a swollen lip following the incident as she testified. She mentioned a good friend of hers noticed her accidents and was “super upset” as a result of she’d “seen me with black eyes and busted lips before”.
She additionally spoke a few journey to Cannes in 2013, after which she mentioned the rapper started enjoying a recording of a “freak off” on his laptop computer on a industrial flight to New York, with different folks round them – telling her he was “going to embarrass me and release them”.
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Combs allegedly threw a vase through the lodge incident. Pic: Division of Justice by way of Reuters
Requested if the freak offs impacted her well being, Ms Ventura mentioned she had abdomen issues and often developed urinary tract infections. She was additionally affected mentally, she instructed the court docket, saying they made her really feel “really empty” and “gross”.
All through her testimony, Ms Ventura has maintained she by no means needed to have sexual experiences with different folks however did it at first to please the person she beloved, and later out of worry. She was 22 and inexperienced when she began courting Combs, who was 17 years older, she mentioned.
The trial continues with cross-examination of Ms Ventura from the defence tomorrow.
