Lanzano/AP
Tina Douglas, mother of R&B star Ashanti, leaves a Manhattan court Thursday following her testimony.
Weiss for News
Ashanti
No Credit
Devar Hurd
Ashanti's
mom first tried to ignore the "disgusting messages" on her phone and
then she told the caller off, but the X-rated voice mails and photos
kept pouring in.
"I would never, ever pick the phone up," Tina Douglas, who manages her stunning daughter's singing career, testified Thursday as the trial of Devar Hurd got under way. She said she could tell it was Hurd by the telltale 312 Chicago area code.
Hurd,
31, is accused of stalking Douglas with calls stretching back to 2006
in which he would fantasize about having sex with Ashanti.
"I'm going to marry her. She's going to have my babies," Douglas said in Manhattan Supreme Court, recalling some of Hurd's voice mails.
The Griffith, Ind., man is locked up in Rikers Island
after being arrested in July. He is charged with leaving long voice
mails for Douglas, and sending her texts and pictures of his penis.
The Long Island-raised
singer's mom said she finally snapped, "Don't call my phone ever
again!" after long trying to ignore the calls and texts."It was just rhetoric and garbage," Douglas said. "It was insulting. It was very disrespectful."
Douglas read aloud some of the text messages as prosecutors flashed pictures of a penis she received on her mobile phone.
The graphic image was accompanied by a text message in which Hurd allegedly said he kept the photo "laying around for the ladies."
"It was disgusting, disgusting," Douglas said.
"The pictures kept coming and they were very graphic in nature," she said.
Richard Berchick, a lawyer for Hurd, said his client simply was looking for love from Ashanti.
"It's misguided and it may be sick, but it's not criminal," he said. "His intent was never to harass."
Hurd faces up to two years in prison if convicted of aggravated harassment.