Sexually specific messages between RnB singer Cassie and her former boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs have been learn in courtroom, with some exhibiting her expressing obvious enthusiasm concerning the “freak off” intercourse classes with escorts she alleges she was pressured into.
The 38-year-old, whose full identify is Casandra Ventura, confronted a full day of cross-examination from the hip-hop mogul’s defence legal professionals, who’re trying to persuade the jury she consented to a “swingers lifestyle”.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to costs of intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to have interaction in prostitution, in relation to Ms Ventura and different girls. His legal professionals have conceded he might be violent, however say nothing he did amounted to crimes of this nature.
Ms Ventura alleges she was bodily abused and degraded for years by the highly effective hip-hop star and music govt, accusing him of violence, coercion, blackmail and rape.
Prosecutors say he exploited and used his community of staff to facilitate unlawful actions, which is a key a part of the racketeering cost.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Day 4 – Because it occurred
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Messages despatched by Cassie to Diddy have been learn in courtroom. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
“I’m always ready to freak off,” the courtroom heard Ms Ventura wrote in a single message in August 2009. In one other she instructed him, a few freak off: “Can’t wait.” And in one other, jurors have been instructed, she described a video of 1 intercourse session with an escort as “dope”.
The pair have been collectively, on and off, for about 11 years from 2007 to 2018.
Combs, whose mom Janice has been in courtroom all week to assist him, together with a few of his kids, appeared relaxed because the messages have been learn aloud for jurors.
Messages from 4 March 2016 – the day earlier than an incident on the InterContinental Lodge in Century Metropolis, Los Angeles, during which Combs was filmed on CCTV seeming to assault Ms Ventura in a hallway, as he was sporting only a towel and socks – have been additionally learn in courtroom.
Footage from this incident, which was first made public in Could 2024, has been a key piece of proof throughout the trial. Ms Ventura has instructed the courtroom it occurred as she tried to go away a freak off session after being hit by Combs.
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Janice Combs was in courtroom to assist her son as soon as once more. Pic: Reuters/ David ‘Dee’ Delgado
Freak off ‘felt soiled, dirty’
Throughout cross-examination, the courtroom heard Ms Ventura despatched a sexually specific message the day earlier than this.
She additionally despatched him a message saying, “Baby I want to FO so bad but I dont want to f*** myself up”.
Ms Ventura has instructed the courtroom this was harm limitation and that she wished to maintain him pleased, as she had a movie premiere developing a couple of days later.
She instructed him “the last time was a mistake but since has made me feel a little dirty, and grimy as opposed to sexual and spontaneous”.
This was the rationale she was going “back and forth in my mind with wanting and not wanting to do it”, she wrote. At first, after they have been “so in love… there were no questions asked, it felt right”.
She instructed him: “I get nervous that I’m just becoming the girlfriend that you get your fantasies off with.”
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Brian Metal is without doubt one of the defence laywers on Combs’s staff. Pic: Reuters/ David ‘Dee’ Delgado
Ms Ventura has instructed the courtroom that she fell in love with Combs in a short time after they received collectively, when she was 21 and he was 37. She has mentioned she wished to please him, however turned frightened of him.
At one level throughout cross-examination, she raised that she felt jurors weren’t listening to the complete context of among the messages being highlighted, saying: “There’s a lot we skipped over.”
Combs’s legal professionals are portray his sexual preferences as a part of a “swingers” life-style that has been talked about beforehand at trial, saying folks won’t agree with it but it surely doesn’t make him responsible of intercourse trafficking.
Questioned on this, Ms Ventura mentioned they have been “very different”.
She was additionally requested about drug use, her personal and Combs’s, and at one level instructed the courtroom she believed he was hooked on opiates after they have been collectively.
She additionally mentioned he was taken to hospital after overdosing on opiates on the Playboy Mansion in 2012 – one thing which was reported on by retailers together with TMZ on the time, when it was mentioned he had suffered a migraine.
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Cassie breaks down in tears throughout earlier day’s proof
Decide pissed off with Diddy’s legal professionals
Away from the questioning, a notable second in courtroom got here when Decide Arun Subramanian turned pissed off with Diddy’s legal professionals over how lengthy they may spend cross-examining Ms Ventura.
He instructed them they need to get a day and a half – the identical time the prosecution had. “In what universe did you not understand this is what was going to happen?” he instructed them.
The decide is eager to maintain the trial on time and notably Ms Ventura’s proof, as she is eight months pregnant along with her third baby with husband Alex High quality, who has been supporting her in courtroom.
She has now spent nearly three days on the witness stand – tomorrow will likely be her fourth – and have become emotional in the direction of the tip of her testimony on her second day.
The felony case in opposition to Combs comes after Ms Ventura sued him in 2023, accusing him of years of bodily and sexual abuse. The swimsuit was settled in 24 hours, for a determine that was undisclosed on the time.
Ms Ventura has confirmed throughout the trial that this was $20m (about £15m).
Combs, 55, has been jailed since September, and faces no less than 15 years or probably life in jail if convicted.
