The Sean “Diddy” Combs intercourse trafficking trial resumed Monday when singer Daybreak Richard testified that the hip-hop mogul threatened to kill her if she advised anybody that she noticed him beat his longtime girlfriend.
Richard advised a jury in Manhattan federal court docket that Combs issued the risk the day after she witnessed the Dangerous Boy Data founder attempt to hit Casandra “Cassie” Ventura with a skillet after which beat her. She stated he advised her and one other lady who noticed the assault that “we may go lacking” if both revealed what they noticed.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Mitzi Steiner requested Richard what she took “we may go lacking” to imply.
“That we may die,” Richard responded, saying she was shocked as a result of all of this occurred simply as she was starting to document with “Diddy — Soiled Cash,” a musical trio she fashioned with Combs and one other R&B singer.
Combs, 55, is on trial in New York on intercourse trafficking and racketeering costs alleging that he exploited his standing as an leisure energy dealer to abuse ladies, together with Cassie, by way of threats and violence. He has pleaded not responsible and his attorneys have argued that prosecutors compiled proof of home violence, however not federal crimes.
In 4 days on the witness stand final week, Cassie testified that she needed a loving relationship with Combs throughout their practically 11 years collectively however was as an alternative subjected to weekly drug-fueled “freak-offs” with male intercourse staff that left her too exhausted and broken to pursue her music profession.
Shortly after Cassie completed testifying on Friday, Richard started her stint on the stand, saying she witnessed Combs assault Cassie on a number of events, together with throughout a go to to Combs’ residence recording studio in 2009, when Richard stated she and one other lady noticed Combs hit Cassie “on the top and beat her on the bottom.”
She stated Combs tried to hit Cassie over the top with a skillet, however Cassie was capable of deflect it.
On Monday, Steiner requested Richard how often she witnessed Combs beat his girlfriend.
“Continuously,” Richard stated. “He would punch her, choke her, drag her, slap her within the mouth. I noticed him kick her, punch her within the abdomen.”
Richard stated that on different events, she noticed Combs punch Cassie within the face with a closed fist and that she noticed him punch her within the abdomen throughout an argument at a restaurant.
Cassie used make-up, clothes and sun shades to cowl up accidents, which included bruising on her face, eyes, lip, arms and knees, Richard stated.
Richard testified that the beatings generally occurred when Cassie spoke up for herself, “if she had an opinion about one thing.”
At different instances, she stated, “it could possibly be random. We wouldn’t even know the place it got here from.”
Richard, who additionally carried out within the group Danity Kane, stated Combs’ workers, together with his bodyguards, additionally witnessed violence.
“They wouldn’t react. They wouldn’t do something,” Richard testified.
Richard supported Cassie’s testimony that Combs had stifled Cassie’s fledgling singing profession, saying she heard Combs inform Cassie that he “owned her” and that any success she had could be on his phrases.
“It could come when he stated it could come,” Richard stated.
Dangerous Boy Data signed Cassie to a 10-album deal in 2006, however solely launched one — the self-titled “Cassie,” which got here out the identical 12 months. Cassie and Combs began courting in 2007 and broke up for good in 2018.
Cassie testified final week that though she continued to go to the recording studio and work on songs, Combs refused to launch them.
Richard stated Combs would get mad — generally violent — when she and different artists supplied to assist Cassie write songs.
“Mr. Combs didn’t like that after we talked to Cassie and oftentimes, we’d pay for it,” Richard testified, including: “When you didn’t keep in line, there was penalties.”
She recalled Combs cursing and telling her to remain out of his relationship.
