BREAKING: JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA IS ON A RECORD PACE FOR THE SEAHAWKS

On Monday, Oct. 6, McAllister appeared virtually during a court hearing regarding Richards' request to make her temporary restraining order against Phypers permanent amid their ongoing divorce. McAllister claimed she witnessed Phypers, 53, give Richards, 54, a black eye on Jan. 17, 2022.

"I saw Aaron hit Denise and immediately she had a really bad black eye," McAllister said. "I'm literally in shock now to this day about it."

In court, McAllister — who worked at Phypers' medical office in Malibu as a holistic energy practitioner on and off from spring 2017 until May 2022 — went on to demonstrate how Phypers had allegedly hit Richards with the palm of his hand. "[Denise] was in shock, I was in shock," she said.

McAllister alleged that the pair — who got married in 2018 — had been fighting prior to the incident because Phypers thought Richards had placed "listening devices" in his office, and "there was alcohol mixed in."

"[It was an] evening of chaos and arguing [that] kept escalating," she said.

Richards first accused Phypers of domestic violence after he filed for divorce from her on July 7. She was granted a temporary restraining order against him. Phypers denied the abuse allegations as "completely false and deeply hurtful" in a previous statement to PEOPLE.

Phypers has not responded to the claims made in McAllister's testimony.

In court, McAllister said she'd witnessed other "horrific" acts of abuse by Phypers against Richards, including one incident where he "pinned [Denise] against the concrete wall where his truck was parked at the office."

"He was choking her and her head slammed against the [wall] and caused a concussion," she claimed. "She was just really upset, in pain, disoriented. [I was] concerned she could have died."

McAllister claimed there was another fight that occurred in the bathroom of Phypers' office sometime between the black eye incident in January 2022 and May of that year. McAllister said she heard "thrashing" in the bathroom and that Richards sustained an "injury on her head from [Aaron] slamming her head on the toilet paper rack in the bathroom."

McAllister said a different incident happened at the office in March 2021 during which Richards "hid in the bathroom" from Phypers.

"Aaron was terrorizing her, and she was looking for support," she said. "I was in my office, and she was texting from the bathroom."

McAllister described the period between January and May 2022 as "a period of escalating abuse" with frequent "yelling and arguing."

She also noted that she'd heard Phypers threaten to kill Richards "several times." And when asked if she was afraid Phypers would kill Richards, McAllister said, "We both were. He threatened to kill us."

"He just would be raging and threatening that if we told anybody, he’d kill us all," she said. "As abuse escalated through the years, he exploited our empathy."

After the judge asked if all of these incidents involved substances, McAllister responded that at that time, "Aaron was what anyone would refer to as an alcoholic, so that fueled the aggression."

Earlier during the hearing, Richards' lawyer said McAllister only agreed to testify under the condition her name be kept off the witness list.

"She is deathly afraid of Mr. Phypers," said Richards' lawyer, adding that McAllister was "in close proximity" to the 2022 incident. "[Kathleen was] afraid of her name being spread to the news and being intimidated by any third party who saw her name in the news."

Richards and Phypers are expected in court through Oct. 8.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.