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.
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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
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
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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