A stylist who formerly worked for Sean "Diddy" Combs and Casandra Ventura Fine, known as "Cassie," for about a decade, said he witnessed Combs assault Cassie on multiple occasions and claimed every outfit Cassie wore had to be approved by Combs.
Deonte Nash said he started working with the former couple around 2008, having previously worked in the fashion department of Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment.
Combs, 55, has been charged with sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering. He faces a life sentence behind bars and has pleaded not guilty.
Cassie has testified that Combs physically, psychologically and sexually abused her over the course of their 10-year relationship that finally ended in 2018.
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Nash was called to the witness stand by the prosecution on Wednesday. He claimed he heard Combs make multiple threats to Cassie — ranging from threatening to harm her physically to threatening to get her parents fired from their jobs.
He also testified that he saw Combs attack Cassie in 2013 or 2014 while she was packing for a trip. According to CNN, Nash claimed Combs yelled at Cassie for not answering her phone before he allegedly grabbed her by her hair, pulled her off a couch and began hitting her.
Nash said he and another assistant, referred to as "Mia" in the trial, tried to stop Combs by jumping on his back, but he threw them off.
According to Nash's testimony, he saw bruises on Cassie "quite often." He said he didn't report the violence he allegedly witnessed because he feared retaliation.
There was an incident in 2014 in which Nash was allegedly on the receiving end of Combs' violent behavior. Nash said they were all at a party and Cassie had her hair down. Nash claimed Combs picked him up by his jacket and told him her hair needed to be worn up. So, Nash said, he asked people at the party for hair pins and had Cassie go to the bathroom to fix her hair.
Another time, Nash claimed Combs threw him onto a parked car during a music video shoot because Combs was angry with Nash for going out, according to CNN.
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During Combs' defense attorneys' cross-examination of Nash, he said he hasn't filed a lawsuit against Combs or demanded anything from him.
"This man's sanity was my safety," Nash said at one point during his testimony.
He also noted that Combs only approved looks for Cassie and not other artists who were signed under his music label.
Nash's testimony followed statements from Los Angeles Police Department Officer Christopher Ignacio and arson investigator Lance Jimenez, who discussed details of the investigation into the destruction of Kid Cudi, real name Scott Mescudi's, car.
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