NOTE: The following article contains disturbing details and video footage. Please read at your own discretion.
As the sex trafficking trial for Sean “Diddy” Combs enters its fourth day, Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, is on the stand to face cross-examination from Combs’ lawyers.
The R&B singer testified Wednesday that Combs raped her when she ended their decade-long relationship, and she described a life locked in physical abuse, which she says she couldn’t leave after he threatened to release degrading sexual videos of her.
She said the videos could ruin everything she’d worked for. “I feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone,” she said.
Ventura also spoke about an alleged incident in 2011 when Combs discovered that she had begun dating rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi.
Combs, she said, went through Ventura’s phone and lunged at her with a “wine bottle opener” after he read text messages between the two.
Ventura testified that she ended things with Mescudi following Combs’ threats against them at the end of 2011. “Too much danger, too much uncertainty of what could happen if we continued to see each other,” she said.
Ventura said that Combs threatened to blow up Mescudi’s car and that he wanted Mescudi’s friends to be there when it happened.
Combs’ lawyers have acknowledged the rapper could be violent but maintain that the sexual acts were consensual. They say nothing he did amounted to sex trafficking or racketeering (the charges he faces), but insisted he just has unique sexual proclivities.
Day 4
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Ventura, who is in the third trimester of pregnancy, returned to the witness stand in a black suit that looked almost like a tuxedo with a light-coloured blouse underneath.
Anna Estevao, a lawyer for Combs, opened her cross-examination by asking about her relationship with Combs. “You and Sean Combs were in love for 11 years. You loved him and believed that he loved you as well?” she asked.
“Yes,” Ventura replied.
Estevao continued to ask Ventura questions with “yes/no” responses about their relationship.
The first exhibits introduced by Estevao were text messages exchanged between Combs and Ventura in the early years of their relationship. In one, Combs wrote, “I’m truly a lucky man.” Ventura wrote back: “I’m a very lucky woman. … Love you so much.”
In one 2008 email, Ventura told Combs she was a lucky woman. “I love you sooo much,” she wrote after Combs thanked her for flying to Atlanta to be with him.
In August 2009, in a message sent by Combs, the rapper told her: “I love you sooooo much it makes me cry.”
Ventura replied: “U hungry pop pop?” (She testified Tuesday that Pop Pop was a nickname she used for Combs, while he sometimes called her Baby Girl.)
He said no, to which Ventura told him to let her know if he changed his mind.
When Combs’ lawyer asked Ventura why she wanted to spend so much time with him, she replied: “Because I fell in love with him.”
“He was charismatic — big personality, larger than life,” Ventura told the court. “The beginning of the relationship was really fast, fast-paced, scary. But the more time I spent with him, his real personality came out — sweet, attentive.”
The defence started to discuss the sexual encounters, known as freak-offs. “So, to make him happy you told him that you wanted to do freak-offs, right?” Estevao asked Ventura.
“No,” Ventura replied. “There’s a lot more to that.”
The jury was then shown a message from 2009 in which Combs and Ventura were discussing a freak-off with an escort named “Jules.”
“I’m always ready to freak off lolol,” Ventura wrote.
After viewing the text message, Ventura whispered to the Judge Arun Subramanian, who called a 10-minute break.
What he’s on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing women with help from a network of associates who helped silence victims through blackmail and violence.
Combs faces an indictment that includes descriptions of freak-offs, which are defined in the court doc as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
Numerous witnesses have come forward to accuse Combs of terrorizing people into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, according to prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled someone from a balcony.
Although dozens of men and women have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will highlight the claims of four women.
Combs is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has denied all the charges against him and has rejected a plea deal, choosing to go to trial instead.
If found guilty in the New York court, he could face life in prison.
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Day 3 testimony
Day 2 testimony
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Global News will be covering the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please check back for updates.
— With files from The Associated Press
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