The grieving mother of Morgan Freeman’s slain granddaughter testified through tears Thursday as she told a court of their final hours together before she was stabbed to death by her boyfriend.
Deena Adair, 55, during her testimony in Manhattan Supreme Court, said she had spent the entire day with her aspiring actress daughter E’Dena Hines, 33, before her daughter’s boyfriend, Lamar Davenport, 30, stabbed her 25 times to death at 2:50am on Aug. 16, 2015.
‘We drove to Jamaica, Queens to go look at the house that was my grandparents house,’ said Adair, who was adopted by Freeman when he married Adair’s mother, Jeannette Adair Bradshaw.
Deena Adair, 55, is pictured with her daughter E’Dena Hines, 33, just hours before the beautiful granddaughter of Morgan Freeman was stabbed to death by her boyfriend in a drug induced haze (evidence photo from court Thursday)
Adair tearfully took the stand in her daughter’s murder trial on Thursday and told a court how she had spent the day with Hines before she was stabbed to death by her boyfriend
E’Dena Hines, the granddaughter of actor Morgan Freeman (together), was stabbed to death in August 2015. Tuesday, her boyfriend, who is her accused killer, appeared in court in Manhattan to face trial for her murder. She is pictured with her grandfather at the 2005 Golden Globes
Lamar Davenport, who allegedly murdered Morgan Freeman’s granddaughter in violent rage, is pictured in court on trial for her murder
The assistant district attorney pressed: ‘Why did you go see that house that day?,’ according to the New York Daily News.
‘Just to reminisce — just to go and walk around and just talk about our experiences,’ she replied.
Adair explained that she had given birth to Hines when she was 19-years-old and did not raise her herself, and that they had reconnected when her daughter was an adult.
Hines was raised by Freeman’s second wife, Myrna Colley-Lee.
Adair said she and Hines had plans to meet up the following day and that the plans were made over drinks with Hines’ friends from grad school, Davenport and his friend.
Hines and her friends had a fun filled day before she was stabbed to death in the early morning hours of August 16, 2015
Davenport, Adair and Hines pictured far right at the table in evidence photos taken hours before she was stabbed to death
Deena Adair, mother of E’Dena Hines, center, who was stabbed 25 times by her boyfriend Lamar pictured in court Thursday
‘(Hines) said to me they would probably stay out a little longer, but not to worry she would call me for lunch or dinner the next day,’ Adair recalled of their goodbye.
‘I just jumped in a taxi and said I’m tired,’ she said, through tears.
Adair, struggling to continue whispered, ‘Why? Why? Why?’
Hours later, Hines was stabbed 25 times in the chest, back and arm on W. 162nd St. in front of the brownstone where she and Davenport had been living for about 10 months.
On Tuesday, a witness told how she saw him straddling Hines on the street and stopped her from getting to her feet.
‘They were arguing. She was on the floor, and he was on top of her, restraining her, stopping her from getting loose from his grip.
‘He was trying to keep her down. … I proceeded to call the cops,’ nursing student Cristina Aviles said, according to The New York Post which attended Tuesday’s hearing.
‘He was yelling things about releasing the devil out of her. And then he pulled out a knife, and then he proceeded to stab her multiple times,’ she added.
Aviles said she watched ‘in shock’ as Davenport pulled out a knife.
‘I don’t know where it came from,’ she said.
She described in harrowing detail how Hines tried to escape and ‘flipped’ from her back to her stomach as she was repeatedly wounded.
‘There was multiple stabs. The back, and then on the front of her chest and her neck.
‘She was on her stomach, and then she somehow flipped over, and he stabbed her on the chest.
‘She was trying to get away from him by pushing him and kicking him,’ she said.
She said Hines continued to move but not intentionally and that it looked like her body was ‘jerking’ in shock.
Crime scene Detective Philip Matthew was another witness. He is pictured leaving the court on Tuesday
When Hines died, Freeman released an emotional statement saying the world would ‘never know her talent’
Davenport stopped plunging the knife into her, she said, once Hines was lying still.
The witness was the person who called 911. During that call, which was played by prosecutors, she screamed: ‘Oh my God! Oh no! She’s on the floor!
‘I can’t believe I’m watching this! This f–king guy is stabbing her. This guy is crazy!’
Hines was the daughter of Freeman’s first wife, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, and was not related to the actor by blood.
He adopted her mother when he married Jeanette, however, and considered himself her father.
Davenport was a drug-addicted rapper at the time who had been unfaithful to her throughout their nine-year relationship
They had a close relationship and Hines went with him and her grandmother to several high profile film awards ceremonies.
She and Davenport had been living together in a $780,000 apartment that Freeman had bought for Hines.
During their nine-year relationship, he fathered children with other women and abused drugs.
At the time of E’Dena’s death, it was claimed that he was high on PCP on the night he stabbed her.
Davenport denies the killing. He was taken to a psychiatric facility immediately after her death but has been in custody ever since.
When she was found dead in the street in Washington Heights, the knife was still in her chest. A tribute is shown above