Pop singer Dawn Richard has told a jury she feared for her life after Sean “Diddy” Combs said she could “go missing” if she reported seeing the hip-hop mogul beat his then-girlfriend Casandra Ventura.
Ms Richard, a former member of the pop group Danity Kane, testified during Mr Combs’s sex trafficking trial last week that the hip-hop star made the threat a day after she and her band mates saw the rapper attack his then-girlfriend Casandra Ventura at his Los Angeles home in 2009.
“I was shocked but also scared,” Ms Richard told jurors on Monday, saying she feared she and her band mates “could die” if they spoke up.
Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
He has been held since September in a Brooklyn jail when not in court. If convicted on all counts, he could face 15 years to life in prison.
Ms Ventura said over four days of testimony last week that Mr Combs coerced and blackmailed her into days of drug-fuelled sex parties he called “Freak Offs,” the heart of the prosecution’s case.
Ms Ventura, the prosecution’s star witness, said she suffered years of physical and emotional abuse during their tumultuous relationship, and that Mr Combs raped her in August 2018 at her home after they broke up.
“I just remember crying and saying ‘no’, but it was very fast,” she said last week, as her voice trailed off.
A lawyer representing Mr Combs sought to undercut the rape claim, showing jurors text messages indicating Ms Ventura had consensual sex with Mr Combs a month after the alleged rape.
The trial in Manhattan federal court, which has drawn intense media coverage because of Mr Combs’s wealth and towering influence in the music industry, could last up to two months.
Ms Richard testified that she saw Mr Combs hit Ms Ventura and drag her screaming upstairs after flying into a rage because she was taking too long to prepare his food, one of many alleged attacks Ms Richard said she witnessed.
Ms Richard said Mr Combs summoned her and her bandmates to the studio the next day, gave them flowers and said their careers would be harmed if they reported the incident.
Ms Ventura did not testify about the alleged 2009 attack, but recounted many other alleged attacks over the course of her 11-year relationship with Mr Combs.
Part of the criminal case stems from Ms Ventura’s November 2023 civil lawsuit against Mr Combs.
She testified that he agreed after 24 hours to settle for $US20 million ($30.9 million).
Ms Richard has filed her own civil lawsuit against Mr Combs alleging he subjected her to inhumane working conditions, including groping and assault, and that she saw Mr Combs brutally beat Ms Ventura many times.
Reuters
