Cassie Ventura testified about the first time she recalled Sean Combs “knocked me around,” describing a time in New York City when, she alleged, he “hit me in the side of the head and I fell to the floor.”
Ventura testified that they were in a car when the alleged assault took place in front of a driver and staff.
Ventura told the court that she, too, sometimes initiated physical violence, recalling to the court a party where she said she had been drinking and speaking to a producer about music.
In the car ride home, “Sean called me a ‘slut’ or ‘b—-‘ or something. I punched him in the face,” Ventura testified.
“How hard did you hit him?” prosecutor Emily Johnson asked.
“As hard as you can hit someone when you’re drunk,” Ventura responded, adding that she did not appear to injure Combs.
“After I punched him, he attacked me,” Ventura testified, telling the court that she was on the floor of Combs’ Cadillac Escalade trying to cover her face “because he was trying to stomp on it with his foot” and that one of Combs’ assistants and a security guard were in the car at the time.
“I was getting really, really badly beaten,” Ventura testified.
Ventura told the court that Combs ordered staff to take her to a hotel and ordered her to cover her face when she went inside. She was not allowed to leave until seven to 10 days later, she told the court, when an employee of Combs’ allegedly told her that Combs wanted her at a recording studio.
“My eyes were still bloodshot in both eyes. I still had some bruising,” Ventura testified, adding that she remembered wearing glasses and heavy makeup to cover what she said were her injuries.