A woman testifies Sean 'Diddy' Combs gave her night terrors by dangling her from a balcony
NEW YORK — A former graphic designer for Sean 'Diddy' Combs testified Wednesday that he dangled her from a 17th-floor balcony while screaming profanities, leaving her so traumatized she still has night terrors nearly a decade later and would wake up screaming.
Bryana 'Bana' Bongolan, 33, a friend of Combs' former girlfriend Cassie, told jurors that Combs lifted her over the railing for 10-15 seconds before pulling her back and throwing her onto patio furniture.
'I was scared to fall,' Bongolan told jurors at the hip-hop mogul's federal sex trafficking trial in Manhattan.
She said the September 2016 attack at Cassie's Los Angeles apartment caused a bruise on her leg and pain to her back and neck. Jurors saw photos of her wearing a neck brace. Her bruise looked like it was the size of a softball.
'I have nightmares and I have a lot of paranoia and I used to scream a lot in my sleep, but it's dissipated a little bit,' said Bongolan, a creative and marketing director at her own art agency.
She said her paranoia includes carefully opening doors and peeking into rooms before going inside. Her last nightmare was just a few days ago, she said.
Combs' lawyers said Bongolan was a heavy drug user and suggested she may have been high during the alleged attack, which she denies. Bongolan has a pending lawsuit against Combs.
Bongolan took the stand during the fourth week of testimony in Combs' trial, and was a prelude to the next big prosecution witness: a woman using the pseudonym 'Jane' who alleges she was abused by Combs and made to participate in drug-fueled 'freak-off" sex marathons. She's expected to testify Thursday.
Bongolan is one of several witnesses to accuse Combs of violence toward them. She testified she also saw him abusing Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura. Cassie testified over the course of four days that Combs beat her and subjected her to hundreds of freak-offs. Other witnesses described seeing similar abuse.
Before Bongolan, forensic video expert Frank Piazza testified about security footage of Combs beating Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in March 2016. Jurors have seen the footage more than a dozen times. Piazza also analyzed 10 sexually explicit videos from Cassie's device. Those were not shown.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of running his business empire as a racketeering enterprise, allegedly using employees to enable and conceal the sexual and physical abuse of women over two decades. He faces 15 years to life if convicted.
As Bongolan testified, Combs appeared focused and spoke with his defense team. Before his lawyer Nicole Westmoreland began her cross-examination, Combs waved her over and spoke to her briefly.
Bongolan, one of at least three witnesses granted immunity, acknowledged that she and Cassie had what Westmoreland characterized as 'a serious drug problem.' Bongolan said they'd sometimes sprinkle cocaine into a marijuana — a 'Coco Puff' — and that she sold drugs to Cassie weekly. She said Cassie sometimes put up the money for drugs, an arrangement Westmoreland described as a 'drug partnership.'
Bongolan, who did design work for Combs' companies, said he gave her drugs three or four times, including ecstasy and cocaine, and that she once did ketamine with Cassie and Combs for eight hours during a New Year's Eve party in Miami in 2017.
She also testified Combs threatened her at a photo shoot: 'I'm the devil and I could kill you.'
Bongolan said the balcony assault happened after he showed up to Cassie's apartment unannounced early one morning, banging angrily on the door. Bongolan, who'd been asleep on the couch with her ex-girlfriend nearby, hid her ex in the bathroom and went to the balcony 'to act casual' and look for marijuana. As she lit the blunt or was about to, Combs grabbed her.
Bongolan said Cassie, who was sleeping in the bedroom, then came out and asked Combs: 'Did you just hang her over the balcony?' Told that Bongolan's ex-girlfriend was also in the apartment, Combs swiftly left, Bongolan said.
Cassie recounted the episode in her testimony last month, telling jurors: 'I saw him bring her back over the railing of the balcony and then throw her onto the patio furniture."
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