Jurors in the trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs were yesterday shown images from the sex parties that the hip-hop mogul masterminded.
The New York courtroom fell into a hush as the jury members examined five still images labeled as ‘Freak Offs’ on their screens, obscured from the public’s view.
One male juror’s eyebrows went up as he saw the images, while a female juror swallowed hard and appeared to move her head side to side.
Combs’ former girlfriend, R&B singer Casandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura, spoke in a monotone as she described the five photos, which portrayed her alongside three male escorts.
One of the images showed her with an escort named Greg amidst a ‘Freak Off.’ Ms. Ventura, 38, stated she was wearing ‘very high shoes’ and her skin was covered in baby oil.
To ensure her privacy, the court allowed only the singer, the jurors, Combs and his lawyers, and the prosecution to see the images.
They were revealed on the third day of the trial of Combs, 55, who won three Grammy Awards and was one of the most famous men in hip hop.
As she gave evidence for a second day, Ms Ventura detailed how taking part in sex parties lasting several days was ‘hell on my body’ and revealed the injuries she suffered during her decade-long relationship with Combs.
She said she repeatedly contracted ‘very painful’ urinary tract infections (UTIs) but had to keep doing ‘Freak Offs’.
The singer was left with sores on her mouth from having sex for up to four days at a time, Manhattan Federal Court heard.
She detailed the arguments she would have with Combs, who she began dating in 2006 when she was 19 – and he was 17 years older.
They included an incident at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in March 2016 when he beat her, which was captured on CCTV.
Ms Ventura said afterwards Combs bombarded her with texts, writing: ‘Call me’, ‘Help’ and ‘If you don’t pick up you’ll never hear my voice again’.
Combs even claimed he was going to be arrested but there was no sign that happened and the hotel’s security did not even call the police.
Ms Ventura said Combs then turned up at her apartment and was ‘banging’ to get in and causing ‘chaos’. The jury was shown a photo she took of her injuries from having been pulled across the floor.
Ms Ventura said she had a ‘fat lip… with a black eye’. The court was shown photos from a few days later at a film premiere, where she was wearing sunglasses to cover the bruise under her eye.
Ms Ventura also said Combs set upon her while she was sleeping before a trip to the OVO music festival in Canada in 2013. Two of her friends tried to restrain him but she was left with a ‘pretty significant gash’ above her left eye.
Combs’ security staff took her to a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills to get the wound stitched, jurors heard. Afterwards, she sent him a photo of her injured face and wrote: ‘So you can remember.’
Ms Ventura was asked to look through a binder showing pictures of male escorts and identified all 13 with whom she said she had been forced to have ‘Freak Offs’. That came on top of six she had identified the day before.
Asked what medical issues the ‘Freak Offs’ led to, Ms Ventura said: ‘I had a lot of stomach issues from taking drugs. I’d get frequent UTIs, if you’ve had one you know how painful that is’.
Ms Ventura said the ‘Freak Offs’ were sometimes back to back, adding: ‘I couldn’t get rid of it [the UTI]. I was doing the Freak Off with an infection’.
She described this as ‘very painful’ … a ‘burning’ sensation.
She said Combs repeatedly threatened to release videos of her taking part in ‘Freak Offs’, on one occasion playing them on a flight even though other passengers were around them.
She said she was worried Combs ‘would be mad enough to put them out and then I would have to answer to my mother’. Ms Ventura said she felt ‘trapped’.
Combs tried to blow up the car belonging to another man that Ms Ventura dated, the court heard. She said he became furious after finding out in late 2011 she was seeing rapper Kid Cudi, also known as Scott Mescudi.
She claimed Combs told him ‘he was going to hurt Scott and I’ so she stopped seeing Mescudi.
‘It was too much,’ Ms Ventura added. ‘Too much danger, too much uncertainty.’
Combs, who helped launch the careers of stars such as The Notorious B.I.G., Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez, denies sex trafficking, racketeering and other charges. He faces life in jail if convicted. The trial continues.
