BBC News, reporting from court in New York City
Jane Rosenberg /ReutersAn exotic dancer called The Punisher discovered his client’s identity when he turned on a hotel suite television before an encounter and the screen said, “Welcome Sean Combs”.
Sharay Hayes testified at the hip-hop mogul’s sex-trafficking trial that he was hired to create what he called “sexy, erotic scenes” with Combs’ then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura while a naked man watched from the corner.
But he did not realise at first that the man was Mr Combs. That changed when Mr Hayes was in a luxury hotel suite in New York waiting for his clients and he saw his name on the television’s welcome screen.
Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Mr Hayes testified in a New York courtroom on Tuesday about his first meeting with the couple. He was “specifically told to not acknowledge” the man in the room and he said Mr Combs wore a veil over his face.
They were in a hotel room in Trump Tower on Central Park West and Ms Ventura greeted him at the door wearing a bath robe, Mr Hayes said.
Inside the room, the furniture was covered in sheets and there were “little bowls” on the floor with bottles of baby oil.
Mr Hayes’ testimony comes after the court heard from Daniel Phillip, who last week claimed he was paid to have sex with Ms Ventura while Mr Combs watched.
Cassie’s mother took photographs of daughter’s injuries
Also on Tuesday, the court heard from Regina Ventura, the mother of R&B singer Cassie.
An email from Ms Ventura to her mother from 23 December, 2011 was shown as evidence. In it, she wrote that Mr Combs had made threats towards her, and that he would “release 2 explicit sex tapes of me”.
The email also said Mr Combs had told Ms Ventura he would be “having someone hurt me” and “he made a point that it wouldn’t be by his hands, he actually said he’d be out of the country when it happened”.
After the email was shown in court, Ms Ventura’s mother identified several images of her daughter taken in her family home in Connecticut around the same time.
They show bruises across Ms Ventura’s upper and lower back, and her leg.
Ms Ventura’s mother alleged the bruises were from being her being “beaten by Sean Combs”.
US Federal CourtShe also testified that Mr Combs had demanded $20,000, because “he was angry that he had spent money” on Ms Ventura.
Ms Ventura’s mother testified that she took out a loan with her husband and sent the money to an account as directed by Mr Combs’ “bookkeeper”.
“I was scared for my daughter’s safety,” Ms Ventura told the court, adding that she felt she had to pay “because he demanded it”.
The money then reappeared in their account about four days later, Ms Ventura said. There was no communication about its return.
Earlier on Tuesday, the defence vigourously cross-examined a former personal assistant of Mr Combs and pointed out some inconsistencies in the versions of events he had previously told the government.
The trial is expected to last several weeks and Mr Combs could face a life sentence if found guilty.
