[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Dawn Richard is saying her piece in the Diddy trial.
On Monday, the disgraced rapper’s sex trafficking trial resumed in New York and the Danity Kane singer offered a terrifying testimony. While on the stand, Dawn recounted the abuse she claims to have seen Diddy inflict upon then-girlfriend Cassie back in 2009. You may recall back in September the 41-year-old filed a lawsuit against the Bad Boy Records founder, claiming in part to have witnessed him beat Cassie with a skillet while “high on drugs” over 15 years ago. In her suit, she claimed she and Dirty Money bandmate Kalenna Harper tried to help Cassie by urging her to leave the rapper, but when word got back to Diddy he waged a terrifying threat against them. According to Dawn, he said:
“Y’all bitches don’t get in my relationship. … Just make money and shut the f**k up … I end artists … I shelve careers … You could be missing … You bitches want to die today?”
And during her testimony on Monday, she doubled down.
Related: Aubrey O’Day BASHES ‘Selfish’ Diddy For Having His Kids Present During Trial!
While on the stand, the Hello Good Morning singer claimed that just one day after witnessing the Boy Boy For Life rapper beat Cassie with the skillet, he told her that she and another woman who witnessed the attack “could go missing” if they ever spoke out about what they saw, according to multiple outlets. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitzi Steiner asked Dawn to clarify what exactly that meant, and she responded:
“That we could die.”
The singer added:
“I was shocked but also scared, I couldn’t believe this would be the beginning of a journey for [Dirty Money].”
So so SO scary!
Dawn went on to claim she “frequently” witnessed Diddy abuse Cassie over the years — particularly when she would attempt to stand up for herself:
“Frequently, he would punch her, choke her, slap her in the mouth, kick her, punch her in the stomach … It could be because Cassie was speaking up for herself. It could be random. It could be if she had an opinion for herself. She would be quiet and when she had these moments of trying to stick up for herself, he would hurt her for it.”
That’s so incredibly awful.
The Show Stopper singer even recalled one 2009 beating in particular which left Cassie with a black eye just before a scheduled appearance. According to her, Cassie was forced to wear sunglasses to the event to cover the injury, and so Dawn decided to wear them alongside her in “solidarity.”
“We wore sunglasses to have solidarity with her and have a support system because she needed it.”
Dawn went on to claim she always treaded carefully around Diddy after witnessing the abuse because “if he did that to someone he supposedly loved, what he do to an employee? So I’d approach Mr. Combs with softness.”
So wild.
What are your reactions to this latest development??
For more information on violence against women, go to https://www.justice.gov/ovw/resources-for-survivors
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/
[Images via Cassie/Instagram & Nicky Nelson/WENN]
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