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Singer Daybreak Richard informed jurors at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial on Monday that the hip-hop mogul threatened to kill her if she informed anybody she noticed him bodily abusing his longtime girlfriend.
Richard testified that Combs made the risk the day after she witnessed the Unhealthy Boy Information founder punch and kick Casandra “Cassie” Ventura after taking a swing at her with a skillet. Richard mentioned he informed her and one other lady who noticed the assault that “we could go missing” in the event that they did not keep quiet.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Mitzi Steiner requested Richard what she took “we could go missing” to imply.
“That we could 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 with Combs and one other R&B singer.
Richard disclosed the alleged risk as she returned to the witness stand to kick off the second week of testimony in Combs’ intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal courtroom.
Combs, 55, is accused of exploiting his leisure powerbroker standing to abuse girls, together with Cassie, by means of threats and violence for twenty years from 2004 till his arrest final September. He has pleaded not responsible. His attorneys argue that prosecutors compiled proof of home violence, however not the federal crimes he is charged with.
Earlier than day’s finish, Cassie’s finest buddy of 17 years and a former private assistant to Combs testified that she felt trapped as prosecutors tried to uncover proof that Combs was working a prison racketeering group that relied on workers to assist him management Cassie and different girls in his life.
Testimony about Combs’ beatings of Cassie got here with hardly a point out of the drug-fueled “freak-offs” that dominated testimony final week, when Cassie defined over 4 days how her want for a loving relationship with Combs led as an alternative to her weekly sexual performances with male intercourse staff that left her too exhausted to pursue her musical profession.
Richard remembers violent outbursts
Richard, who started her testimony Friday and concluded Monday, mentioned she witnessed Combs assault Cassie a number of occasions, together with throughout a go to to Combs’ dwelling recording studio in 2009, when Richard mentioned she and one other lady noticed Combs hit Cassie “on the head and beat her on the ground” after Cassie deflected a swipe at her head by a skillet.
Richard mentioned she witnessed Combs beat his girlfriend regularly when he “would punch her, choke her, drag her, slap her in the mouth. I saw him kick her, punch her in the stomach.”
Beatings got here when Cassie spoke up for herself, “if she had an opinion about something,” mentioned Richard, who additionally carried out within the group Danity Kane.
She mentioned Combs’ workers, together with his bodyguards, additionally witnessed violence, however they “wouldn’t react. They wouldn’t do anything.”
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.
Richard mentioned Combs would get mad — generally violent — when she and different artists supplied to assist Cassie write songs.
Protection lawyer Nicole Westmoreland urged Richard was testifying as a result of she was offended at Combs for ending Danity Kane and Diddy — Soiled Cash, and since she has a pending lawsuit towards him.
“You felt that Mr. Combs ruined your career not once, but twice?” Westmoreland requested.
“Yes,” Richard answered.
She contended, although, that she was unhappy, not offended, over the tip of the teams, and is suing Combs as a result of he mistreated her and withheld her earnings.
Unhealthy Boy signed Cassie to a 10-album deal in 2006, however solely launched one — the self-titled “Cassie,” which got here out the identical yr. Cassie and Combs began courting in 2007 and broke up for good in 2018.
Cassie’s former finest buddy remembers violent outbursts
After Richard got here testimony from Kerry Morgan. She mentioned she was Cassie’s longtime finest buddy till that they had a falling out after Morgan suffered a concussion when Combs’ choked Morgan and slung a picket hanger at her in 2018 when he got here to Cassie’s Los Angeles dwelling enraged that Cassie was courting another person.
Morgan mentioned she was going to sue Combs, however Cassie met her at a pizza parlor and had her signal a nondisclosure settlement in return for $30,000 from Combs whereas accusing her of “milking” and “overexaggerating” the assault. Morgan and Cassie each testified that they have not spoken since.
Morgan, a reluctant witness who acknowledged that she solely testified in response to a authorities subpoena, mentioned she noticed Combs beat Cassie no less than twice, together with as soon as so severely on a visit to Jamaica when Combs turned offended that Cassie was taking too lengthy within the toilet that she thought her buddy had been “knocked out.”
She mentioned she inspired Cassie to interrupt up with him after realizing that the very assured lady she had met in 2001 throughout modeling gigs and who roomed together with her for a time had “lost her spark” and had assumed a slumped posture as she catered to Combs’ wants. However she mentioned Cassie was reluctant to go away Combs.
“He controlled everything. She would’ve lost all of her livelihood,” Morgan mentioned, noting that Combs paid for Cassie’s automotive and house, and had her beneath contract with Unhealthy Boy.
Cassie testified final week that though she continued to go to the recording studio and work on songs, Combs refused to launch them.
“He was in charge of her career,” Morgan testified, including that Cassie generally expressed frustration that her music wasn’t being launched.
Ex-employee says Combs known as Cassie ‘very moldable’
David James, who served as Combs’ private assistant from 2007 to 2009, began crying as he testified that, when he interviewed for the job, one of many hip-hop heavyweight’s lieutenants pointed to a photograph of Combs on the wall and informed him: “This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom. We’re all here to serve him.”
James’ employment coincided with the early days of Combs and Cassie’s relationship. He recalled her being astonished — and maybe overwhelmed — by Combs’ high-flying, globetrotting methods.
“Man, this lifestyle is crazy,” he recalled Cassie saying as they smoked cigarettes on a dock together with her then-best buddy Morgan.
James, who will return to the stand Tuesday, mentioned he urged Cassie go away Combs if she was uncomfortable, to which he mentioned she replied: “I can’t. I can’t get out. You know, Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life.”
James recalled speaking to Combs on one other event concerning the girls in his life. Combs, he mentioned, described his longtime girlfriend Kim Porter, the mom of a few of his youngsters, as “my queen.”
When the topic turned to Cassie, James testified that Combs informed him: “She’s good. I got her right where I want her. She’s young.”
James recalled Combs describing Cassie as “very moldable.”
In the event you or somebody you recognize is experiencing home violence, contact the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
Sources for victims of sexual assault can be found by means of the Nationwide Sexual Violence Sources Heart and the Nationwide Sexual Assault Phone Hotline at 800-656-4673.
