R&B star Cassie Ventura instructed Sean “Diddy” Combs “I’m not a rag doll, I’m someone’s child”, after he allegedly beat her exterior a raise on the Intercontinental Resort in Los Angeles in March 2016, a New York court docket has heard.
Footage of Combs showing to pull and kick the R&B star in a hall was initially launched by CNN in Might 2024. Combs subsequently apologised for his actions.
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CCTV footage exhibits Diddy ‘attacking’ Cassie in resort
The footage of the incident, which Cassie says passed off after she left a “freak off” intercourse session, has since been extensively shared and has been proven to the jury in court docket as proof for the prosecution.
Combs, 55, faces 5 prison counts: one rely of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of intercourse trafficking by power, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He denies the allegations in opposition to him.
Cassie, whose full identify is Casandra 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.
The 38-year-old, who’s the star witness for the prosecution, confronted a fourth day on the stand, with the hip-hop mogul’s defence legal professionals concluding their two-day cross-examination.
Closely pregnant, she is anticipating her third little one in only a few weeks.
Prosecutors say Combs exploited and used his community of staff to facilitate unlawful actions, whereas defence legal professionals have been trying to indicate jurors she consented to their extremely charged “swingers lifestyle”.
The court docket additionally heard additional particulars of Cassie’s allegation of rape in opposition to Combs, data round her keep at a trauma and dependancy centre in Arizona and additional messages showing to indicate her enthusiasm for freak offs.
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Sean Combs and Cassie in 2017. Pic: zz/XPX/STAR MAX/IPx 2017/AP
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Day 5 – Because it occurred
Cassie was requested about singer Chris Brown – who she denied dancing with – and tells the court docket Combs had kind for taking her belongings, together with her cellphone, automobile and watch, when he was offended along with her.
An audio recording was additionally performed to the court docket, showing to indicate Cassie threatening a person she claimed to have a video of her at a freak off on his cellphone, screaming: “I will f*** you up and it won’t be my hand”.
It was not clear as as to if such a video ever existed.
Cassie was additionally requested about her use of medicine, and mentioned she had struggled with opioid dependancy since 2022.
She described a 45-day keep at a rehabilitation centre in Arizona in 2023, the place she underwent EMDR (Eye Motion Desensitisation and Reprocessing) to assist resolve trauma.
The centre specialises in treating “sex and intimacy issues”, however Cassie confirmed she was handled just for trauma.
The court docket additionally heard about Cassie’s allegation of rape in opposition to Combs in August or September 2018, by which era she says they’d break up up.
The pair had been collectively, on and off, for about 11 years from 2007 to 2018.
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A court docket sketch of Combs and Cassie. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
‘I’ve love for the previous, what it was’
Describing Combs taking her for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Malibu, she says he raped her after driving her residence, after “acting strangely” throughout the meal.
When requested if she believed his behaviour was as a consequence of his “bipolar disorder”, Cassie answered “yes”.
The jury was then proven a textual content message which included a coronary heart emoji, despatched by Cassie to Combs the next day.
When requested if she nonetheless had love for him, she mentioned: “I have love for the past, what it was.”
Cassie confirmed she noticed Combs the next month, when she mentioned she had consensual intercourse with him, throughout which her now-husband, private coach Alex Positive, tried to FaceTime her.
She mentioned she did not inform Positive she had been raped by Combs on the time, however that he “punched a wall” when she later instructed him.
Combs paid shut consideration to Cassie’s cross-examination, leaning in to learn transcripts on the monitor in entrance of him and passing down notes to his lawyer. Cassie didn’t have a look at him all through the trial.
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Cassie’s husband, Alex Positive (left), exterior court docket. Pic: Reuters/David ‘Dee’ Delgado
A ‘$10m’ settlement with the Intercontinental
In direction of the top of her questioning by the defence, Cassie was learn a message from Combs in September 2012, wherein he requested “do you want to have our last FO [freak off] tonight?” – to which she responded, “I don’t want to freak off for the last time, I want it to be the first time for the rest of our lives”.
In a shock flip, Cassie additionally confirmed that an anticipated settlement of $10m had been agreed with the Intercontinental Resort in Los Angeles, the place she was assaulted.
“For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember,” she mentioned. “And the more I can remember, the more I will never forget.”
The following witness, particular agent Yasin Binda, detailed gadgets discovered throughout a search of Combs’s Park Hyatt resort room in 2004, following his arrest that 12 months.
She confirmed the court docket photographs of displays together with lubricant and child oil, medication and a bum bag containing $9,000 (£6,800) in money.
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Daybreak Richard factors at Combs throughout the trial. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
‘Hit over the top with a skillet of eggs’
On the finish of the day, Daybreak Richard, a former member of lady group Danity Kane and trio Soiled Cash, gave proof, telling the court docket she noticed Combs attacking Cassie, together with a time he “hit her over the head with a skillet of eggs”.
She went on to say Combs “dragged” Cassie upstairs the place she “heard glass breaking”, including she had “never seen anything” prefer it earlier than – “he was punching his girlfriend”.
Richard mentioned she did not intervene or report the incident to the police as she was “scared”.
The singer sued Combs final 12 months, accusing him of bodily abuse, groping and psychological abuse throughout her time working with him.
Combs has been jailed since September and faces at the least 15 years or presumably life in jail if convicted.
The trial is ready to final for seven extra weeks.
