The singer Dawn Richard testified at Sean Combs’s racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking trial on Monday that while performing in a group backed by the music producer, she saw Mr. Combs punch, kick and slap his former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura.
Ms. Richard, who was a performer in the now-defunct groups Danity Kane and Diddy — Dirty Money, recalled an altercation at Mr. Combs’s Los Angeles home in 2009, when she said Mr. Combs attempted to hit Ms. Ventura in the head with a skillet that Ms. Ventura had been using to cook him eggs, then punched and kicked her while she was curled up on the kitchen floor.
In two other incidents that she said occurred during her time in Diddy — Dirty Money, which lasted from 2009 to 2011, Ms. Richard said she saw Mr. Combs punch Ms. Ventura in the face with a closed fist at his home in New York, and punch her in the stomach at a restaurant in Los Angeles.
“I told her she should leave,” Ms. Richard recalled of her conversations with Ms. Ventura, known as the singer Cassie, around those incidents. She testified that Mr. Combs warned her to stay out of his relationship, convincing her to back off.
Under cross-examination, Nicole Westmoreland, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, closely scrutinized Ms. Richard’s allegations. Ms. Westmoreland focused on the skillet incident, repeatedly questioning Ms. Richard about how the details of the accusation had changed over time — from when her lawyer sent a legal demand letter, to a series of interviews with the government, to her testimony on the stand.
Ms. Richard testified that she had been recounting details “as best as I can recall.” Out of the presence of the jury on Friday, after prosecutors began their questioning of Ms. Richard, a lawyer for Mr. Combs called the allegation a “drop-dead lie.”
Instances of violence against Ms. Ventura are central to the prosecutor’s contention that she was a victim of sex trafficking during much of her 11-year on-and-off relationship with Mr. Combs.
Mr. Combs has acknowledged physically abusing Ms. Ventura, but he vehemently denies sex trafficking her. His lawyers have denied allegations of a criminal conspiracy that are at the center of the government’s case and have argued that Mr. Combs engaged in perhaps unconventional, but not illegal, sex to which they say Ms. Ventura fully consented. Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.
Ms. Richard, who first joined the Combs-backed girl group Danity Kane through the third iteration of the MTV reality show “Making the Band,” which began in 2005, filed a lawsuit against Mr. Combs last year, shortly before he was arrested. She accused him of threatening her, groping her and flying into “frenzied, unpredictable rages” while he oversaw her career.
A lawyer for Mr. Combs described the lawsuit as a “series of false claims” to elicit a “payday.”
While questioning Ms. Richard about what she saw of Mr. Combs’s drug use, Ms. Westmoreland focused on another inconsistency in her account. Ms. Richard had testified that she had seen Mr. Combs use cocaine, but had told prosecutors in an interview that she had not.
“You would agree with me that as time progresses your story changes,” Ms. Westmoreland asked.
“Yes,” Ms. Richard replied.
Ms. Richard is the first of a series of government witnesses scheduled for this week who are expected to testify about what they saw of Ms. Ventura’s relationship with Mr. Combs.
Last week, Ms. Ventura detailed physical abuse from Mr. Combs that she said plagued her relationship and pushed her into reluctantly engaging in drug-fueled sex marathons with male prostitutes, known as “freak-offs.”
The next witness on the stand on Monday was Kerry Morgan, a woman who testified that she was a close friend of Ms. Ventura’s for 17 years but no longer speaks with her. She said she did not want to testify but had been subpoenaed.
Ms. Morgan recalled witnessing several instances of abuse, including one on a trip to Jamaica in which she said she saw Mr. Combs push Ms. Ventura to the ground. She said Ms. Ventura hit her head on a brick surface and didn’t move for about 20 or 30 seconds.
“I thought she was knocked out,” Ms. Morgan said, testifying that she and Ms. Ventura later hid from Mr. Combs in a ditch in a wooded area.
Ms. Ventura had testified that her friendship with Ms. Morgan foundered after a violent episode when Mr. Combs walked in to discover that the friends were planning to do drugs together, then grew angry and hit Ms. Morgan in the head with a wooden hanger. Ms. Ventura acknowledged on the stand that Ms. Morgan had made a legal demand on the couple following the incident, and that Ms. Ventura personally paid part of a settlement.
Other government witnesses scheduled for this week include Regina Ventura, Ms. Ventura’s mother; David James, a former personal assistant to Mr. Combs; Jourdan Atkinson, a former personal chef for Mr. Combs who accused him of shoving her to the ground; and Sharay Hayes, who has described himself as an exotic dancer known as “Punisher.” (Ms. Ventura testified that a man known as Punisher participated in several freak-offs with her and Mr. Combs.)
During Ms. Ventura’s testimony, the defense sought to complicate the narrative she has presented of a woman forced into sexual encounters and desperate to escape abuse. Seeking to chip away at her direct testimony, the defense seized on an inconsistency in the timing of a rape allegation, suggested that she consented to freak-offs, and posited that drugs and jealousy over mutual infidelities — not sexual coercion — were the true cause of violence in a troubled and toxic, but still loving, relationship.
Again and again, Ms. Ventura was asked by the prosecution if she had wanted to participate in freak-offs with escorts. Her answer was always no.
Anusha Bayya contributed reporting.
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
Ben Sisario, a reporter covering music and the music industry, has been writing for The Times for more than 20 years.
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