Sean “Diddy” Combs ’ former private assistant testified Thursday that the hip-hop mogul sexually assaulted her, threw her right into a swimming pool, dumped a bucket of ice on her and slammed a door towards her arm throughout a torturous eight-year tenure.
The girl, testifying at Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial beneath the pseudonym “Mia,” mentioned Combs put his hand up her gown and forcibly kissed her at his fortieth celebration in 2009, compelled her to carry out oral intercourse whereas she helped him pack for a visit and raped her in visitor quarters at his Los Angeles residence in 2010 after climbing into her mattress.
“I couldn’t tell him ‘no’ about anything,” Mia mentioned, telling jurors she felt “terrified and confused and ashamed and scared” when Combs raped her. The assaults, she mentioned, had been unpredictable: “always random, sporadic, so oddly spaced out where I would think they would never happen again.”
If she hadn’t been referred to as to testify, Mia mentioned, “I was going to die with this. I didn’t want anyone to know ever.”
Talking slowly and haltingly, Mia portrayed Combs as a controlling taskmaster who put his needs above the wellbeing of workers and family members. She mentioned Combs berated her for errors, even ones different staff made, and piled on so many duties she did not sleep for days.
“It was chaotic. It was toxic,” mentioned Mia, who labored for Combs from 2009 to 2017, together with a stint as an government at his movie studio. “It could be exciting. The highs were really high and the lows were really low.”
Requested what decided how her days would unfold, Mia mentioned: “Puff’s mood,” utilizing one in all his many nicknames.
Mia mentioned staff had been all the time on edge as a result of Combs’ temper may change “in a cut up second” inflicting every thing to go from “happy to chaotic.” She mentioned Combs as soon as threw a pc at her when he could not get a Wi-Fi connection.
Her testimony echoed that of Combs’ different private assistants and his longtime girlfriend Cassie, who mentioned he was demanding, mercurial and vulnerable to violence. She is the second of three girls testifying that Combs sexually abused them.
Cassie, an R&B singer whose authorized identify is Casandra Ventura, testified for 4 days throughout the trial’s first week, telling jurors Combs subjected her to a whole bunch of “freak-offs” — drug-fueled marathons wherein she mentioned she engaged in intercourse acts with male intercourse staff whereas Combs watched, filmed and coached them.
A 3rd girl, “Jane,” is predicted to testify about collaborating in freak-offs. Choose Arun Subramanian has permitted a few of Combs’ sexual abuse accusers to testify beneath pseudonyms for his or her privateness and security.
The Related Press doesn’t establish individuals who say they’re victims of sexual abuse except they select to make their names public, as Cassie has performed.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to intercourse trafficking and racketeering expenses. His legal professionals concede he may very well be violent, however he denies utilizing threats or his clout to commit abuse.
Mia testified that she noticed Combs beat Cassie quite a few instances, detailing a brutal assault at Cassie’s Los Angeles residence in 2013 that the singer and her longtime stylist Deonte Nash additionally recounted of their testimony. Mia mentioned she was terrified Combs was going to kill all of them, describing the melee as “a little tornado.”
The witness recalled leaping on Combs’ again in an try and cease him from hurting Nash and Cassie. Mia mentioned Combs threw her right into a wall and slammed Cassie’s head right into a mattress nook, inflicting a deep, bloody gash on the singer’s brow. Different instances, she mentioned, Combs’ abuse triggered Cassie black eyes and fats lips.
Mia mentioned Combs typically had her working for as much as 5 days at a time with out relaxation as he hopped from metropolis to metropolis for membership appearances and different engagements, and he or she began counting on her ADHD treatment, the stimulant Adderall, as a sleep substitute.
Combs, with residences in Miami, Los Angeles and the New York space, let Mia and different staff keep in his visitor homes — however she wasn’t allowed to depart with out his permission and could not lock the doorways, she testified.
“That is my home. Nobody locks my doorways,” Combs mentioned, in keeping with Mia.
Mia did not seem to make eye contact with Combs, who sat again in his chair and seemed ahead, typically together with his arms folded in entrance him, as she testified. Sometimes, he leaned over to talk with one in all his legal professionals or donned glasses to learn displays. Mia stored her head down as she left the courtroom for breaks.
She testified that she stays pals with Cassie.
