Dawn Hughes, a forensic psychologist, said during her testimony that sexual violence was a “very private harm” that leads to feelings of shame and degradation for the victim.
Victims can develop what psychologists define as a “trauma bond” with their abuser, where they hold onto the loving aspects of the relationship, she added.
It can often take multiple attempts before someone feels they are able to leave a toxic relationship.
Cassie Ventura, Combs’s former girlfriend, testified at length about the alleged physical and sexual abuse she suffered during her 11-year relationship with Combs.
“I was confused, nervous, but also loved him very much and wanted to make him happy,” she told the jury last week.
Veteran of celebrity trials testifies on psychology
Dawn Hughes, a forensic psychologist, told the jury she was appearing as a “blind witness” with no personal experience of the individuals involved.
She testified that it was common for victims to remain in abusive relationships due to feelings of entrapment. Abusers typically use physical and psychological methods to isolate and demean victims, she said.
Hughes has previously given evidence in the defamation trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, and the criminal trial of the R&B singer R Kelly. Heard lost her defamation case against her former husband in 2022. Kelly was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking and was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
Gannon concludes testimony
Under cross-examination, Gerard Gannon confirmed that components of the AR-15 rifles recovered from Combs’s closet were dismantled, unloaded and inoperable.
He agreed that the guns could still be forensically linked to their owner through DNA testing even though the serial numbers had been defaced.
With that, Gannon has concluded his testimony.
The next prosecution witness called to the stand is Dawn Hughes, a clinical and forensic psychologist.
Six people present at mansion during raid, Gannon says
Under cross-examination by Combs’s attorney Teny Geragos, Gerard Gannon testified that agents found six people at Combs’s Miami property when they conducted a raid last March.
They handcuffed and searched the individuals, who included a music producer, a property manager and other property maintenance staff. No weapons or drug paraphernalia were found on them.
Gannon, who was in charge of planning the raid, said it was “common practice” to employ 80 to 90 agents, an armoured vehicle and a boat to carry out a search of a property the size of Combs’s mansion.
A lawyer for Combs described the raid as a “a gross overuse of military-level force” at the time.
Sex trafficking accusations scupper sale of mansion
A property in Los Angeles belonging to Sean Combs is still on the market eight months after it was put on sale for $61.5 million.
The rap mogul listed the ten-bedroom, 13-bathroom estate in Holmby Hills, one of the city’s most glamorous neighbourhoods, a week before his arrest last September.
The property was raided by federal agents a year ago as part of their investigation into alleged sex trafficking.
• Read in full: There’s just one problem with this $61.5m mansion. It was Diddy’s
Loaded gun in the guesthouse
Federal agents also found a loaded .45-calibre handgun in a suitcase at a guesthouse at the Combs’s property, Gannon said. The homeland security special agent held up an evidence bag containing bullets recovered during the raid for the jury.
He earlier testified that officers recovered components of several AR-15 assault rifles that had their serial numbers defaced from Combs’s master bedroom.
Pills ‘stamped with Tesla logo’
Investigators found an array of drugs including cocaine, ketamine and three ecstasy pills with the Tesla logo stamped on them in a Gucci bag inside a closet in Combs’s Miami mansion, Gannon told the jury.
A plastic straw and a $100 bill found in the bag tested positive for cocaine and ketamine. They also recovered three phones stuffed inside a pair of black Balenciaga boots, he said. The prosecution is methodically taking the jury through items of note recovered from the March 2024 raid.
Agent reveals items found in raid on Diddy’s home
Gerard Gannon, a special agent from Homeland Security Investigations in charge of a March 2024 raid on Combs’s home in Miami, has resumed giving testimony that began yesterday.
Gannon has told the jury how officers found sex toys, baby oil, platform high-heel shoes, lingerie and components of AR-15-style assault rifles with defaced serial numbers in a master bedroom closet of Combs’s $50 million property.
The jury have been shown photographs of items prosecutors said were found there. Gannon then took out a pair of the towering platform shoes from an evidence bag to show the jury.