Dawn Richard Feared ‘Death’ After Seeing Diddy Abuse Cassie
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Danity Kane’s Dawn Richard recounted on Friday that she saw Sean “Diddy” Combs attack Casandra “Cassie” Ventura with a skillet in 2009 — and then kick his then-girlfriend as she cowered in the fetal position. Richard, whose testimony mirrored allegations in her 2024 lawsuit against Diddy, entered the courtroom around 4:30 p.m. Wearing a green-and-tan blazer, a sort of plaid, and khaki pants, she walked with purpose down the aisle, into the well, then onto the stand, as Diddy looked on.
“I was signed to Bad Boy Records,” she said. Richard was asked whether she saw Diddy in the courtroom. As the prosecutor directed her to identify him by an article of clothing, Richard pointed at him, apologized, and said he was in “the white, or the cream,” sweater. Richard said she was part of a “girl group called Danity Kane” and a genre-crossing group with Diddy and another singer. She knew Cassie since 2005 and “frequently saw her.”
“I observed Cassie being attacked,” Richard said in response to being asked about an incident in 2009. “She was attacked by Sean Combs.”
The incident unfolded at Diddy’s Los Angeles home. “He came downstairs, screaming, belligerent, asking where his food was,” Richard said. She saw Diddy “kick her in the head and beat her in front of us.”
Asked to elaborate on the incident, Richard said that Diddy yelled at Cassie that she always messed things up, saying “where the fuck was his eggs.” He then took the skillet with the eggs in it and “tried to hit her in the head with it.” Cassie fell to the ground. “She went into the fetal position and you could see she was … trying to hide her face and her head.” While Cassie was down, Diddy started to punch and kick her and ultimately dragged her upstairs. Richard said she could hear “glass breaking and yelling.” She was afraid to call anyone. “I was scared that if I intervened, I might get [it] worse.”
The next day, Richard and her colleague were called in to record the next day at Diddy’s studio. When they arrived, Diddy locked the door. He told them that what they saw was more akin to a lover’s quarrel. Then came the threat. “Where he comes from, people go missing if they say things like that,” Richard recalled him saying. “And then, he gave us flowers.” What did Richard think Diddy meant by people go missing? “That people could die, death,” she said. Richard will return to the witness stand on Monday. Prosecutors are using Richard’s account to bolster Cassie’s allegations — and their argument that Diddy maintained control over victims by wielding violence and threats.