On the first day of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ criminal trial in New York for sex trafficking and racketeering on May 12th, the rapper’s three daughters were seen to leave the court early and in tears, after hearing the graphic testimony of a male escort giving evidence.
Three of the former hip-hop mogul’s daughters – Chance, D’Lila, and Jessie Combs – were in attendance for the opening statements of the trial, in which Combs is accused of five counts of sexual abuse, trafficking, and racketeering spanning over two decades.
When it came to witnesses giving evidence for the prosecution, male escort Daniel Phillip testified that Combs forced him to have sex with Cassie Ventura, one of the rapper’s main accusers, which he paid between $700 and $6,000 for on various occasions.
However, as the testimony was being delivered, Combs’ daughters, who had previously been sitting through the trial, quietly rose and left the room, and were then seen exiting the court in tears, with the weight of the evidence having become too graphic to bear.
When asked why he did not report the string of incidents to the police at the time, Phillip replied: “My thought was that this was someone with unlimited power and chances are even if I did go to the police, that I might still end up losing my life.”
Combs has plead not guilty in the case and denies all the charges against him, with his defence lawyer arguing in her opening statement that the rapper admits to being a violent domestic abuser with a “bad temper,” but that this does not amount to the sex trafficking he is accused of.
Ventura, a key witness in the trial, is due to give evidence on May 13th.
