Singer Cassie, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former girlfriend, took the witness stand in his sex trafficking trial on Tuesday and testified about being abused and sexually exploited by him for years.
Her testimony came a day after prosecutors showed jurors a video of the rapper beating her in a hotel in 2016.
Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, told the jury Tuesday that her relationship with Combs had good and bad times, with some of their arguments turning physical. The two met in 2005 when Cassie was 19 and Diddy was 37. He signed her to his Bad Boy Records label and they started dating after a few years.
“If they were violent arguments, it would usually result in some sort of physical abuse and dragging, just different things,” Cassie said, according to Inquirer.com. When she was asked how frequently Combs became violent with her, Cassie responded: “Too frequently.”
She said Diddy “would mash me in the head, knock me over, drag me, kick me. Stomp me in the head if I was down,” leaving her with bruises and black eyes.
She testified that she experienced “nervousness and confusion” over being in Combs’ “freak-offs”, but was worried about what would happen if she refused to participate in them, BBC reported.
She said she took part in the “Freak Offs” just to please Combs and continued with them because he blackmailed her with videos of what occurred.
“The ‘Freak Offs’ became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again,” a pregnant Cassie said, adding that the performances could last 1-1/2 to four days, Reuters reported.
As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, Diddy was arrested by federal agents on September 16 and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Diddy, who entered a not-guilty plea, is being held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The Bad Boy Records founder is additionally facing multiple sexual assault lawsuits.
Diddy is accused of orchestrating “Freak-Offs,” described as elaborate, produced sex performances that he directed, recorded, and sometimes participated in.
His legal woes started after CNN shared a video of him assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. The rapper and music executive had initially denied allegations of rape and abuse from Cassie. But he later issued an apology on social media after the circulation of the video.
“During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes. But he didn’t do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and helped him cover them up,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said, per The New York Times.
The 55-year-old, who has maintained his innocence, could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty of the charges.
