Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attempted to smash his way into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment with a hammer after a notorious assault in the corridors of a luxury hotel, a New York court has heard.
The rap mogul was caught on camera in 2016 kicking and hitting Caissie Ventura as she lay on the floor on the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles before dragging her away “like a ragdoll”.
The video of the incident emerged last year, sparking a civil case from Ms Ventura which was quickly settled and a criminal investigation into Diddy’s alleged abuse of women.
At his criminal trial on Monday, Ms Ventura's former best friend Kerry Morgan claimed Diddy tried to smash his way into Ms Ventura's apartment after the hotel attack.
She described looking through the peephole at the LA apartment, and seeing Diddy shouting and "banging on the door with a hammer".
“He was yelling”, she said. “I was terrified.”
Ms Morgan said her friend appeared “numb”, telling jurors: “She was just sitting there on the couch. I don’t think she cared if he came in and killed her.”
She said she called one of Diddy’s assistants and the rapper eventually left, and Ms Ventura later refused to give her name to a police officer who came to investigate.
Ms Morgan also claims to have witnessed violent outbursts by the hip-hop mogul, including on a holiday to Jamaica in 2013 when she says she saw Diddy drag Ms Ventura down a 50-yard hallway by her hair because she was "taking too long in the bathroom".
She described the court hearing “guttural, terrifying” screaming, and said: “I saw him push her on the ground and she hit her head on the brick.”
Ms Morgan said Mr Ventura fled into some nearby woodland, and they eventually ended up “hiding in a ditch”.
She also told the court that she herself had fallen victim to violence by Diddy, alleging he choked her and threw a wooden hanger at her head in 2018 while demanding to know who Ms Ventura was cheating on him with.
Jurors heard Ms Ventura and Ms Morgan were best friends for 17 years after meeting on a modelling shoot, but they fell out after Ms Morgan filed a lawsuit over the alleged attack Diddy.
She said they met in a pizza restaurant and Ms Ventura offered her $30,000 (£22,450) to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which effectively ended their friendship.
"I draw my line at physical abuse”, she said.
Her evidence was followed by testimony from David James, who was Diddy’s personal assistant and worked long hours for the rap mogul.
He claimed to have been told by a senior figure at Diddy’s Bad Boy Entertainment record label "this is Mr Combs' kingdom. We're all here to serve it".
Diddy, 55, denies charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The trial continues.
