Testimony in Rick James Torture Case Is Tearful

A weeping 24-year-old Georgia woman testified in San Fernando Municipal Court Wednesday that rock singer Rick James tortured her, forced her to have sex with his girlfriend and threatened to kill her if she told police.

James, 43, and his girlfriend Tanya Ann Hijazi, 21, scoffed and laughed from the defendants’ table during the first day of a preliminary hearing in the case as the woman said that the Grammy Award-winning musician used a cocaine pipe, a kitchen knife and a cigarette lighter to burn her legs, knees and stomach after a weeklong cocaine-smoking episode in July in his home in Studio City.

The singer, whose real name is Leroi Curwall Johnson, is sometimes called the “King of Funk” and is best known for his 1981 hit “Super Freak.” He has denied all charges and has sought through his attorneys to portray the woman as a drug addict seeking a civil settlement and publicity.