A witness has told a court how she looked on in shock as E’Dena Hines, the granddaughter of legendary actor Morgan Freeman, uttered her last words before she died after being stabbed.
The 33-year-old was allegedly stabbed 25 times by her long-term boyfriend Lamar Davenport, aged 30, last year on August 16 in the middle of Manhattan, New York.
Witness Cristina Aviles, a 22-year-old nursing student, told members of the court Hines was with a group of friends when she was approached by Davenport, who was her live-in boyfriend at the time, at 162nd Street in Washington Heights.
She recalls how the two proceeded to have a very public argument before Davenport took a weapon and proceeded to stab Hines 25 times. As she lay dying she asked her killer ‘Why are you doing this?’.
Giving evidence in court, Aviles says:
They were arguing. She was on the [ground], and he was on top of her, restraining her, stopping her from getting loose from his grip.
I proceeded to call the cops. He was yelling things about releasing the devil out of her and then he pulled out a knife.
He was yelling things about releasing the devil out of her and then he pulled out a knife. There was multiple stabs — the back, and then on the front of her chest and her neck.
According to the New York Post, she also described in graphic detail how Davenport reportedly raised the murder weapon to the level of his forehead before bringing it down and plunging it into his victim – doing so around 25 times.
Aviles went onto say:
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.
And then he stopped after she was still.
Aviles told the court she heard Hines – who’s Freeman’s granddaughter from his first marriage to Jeannette Adair Bradshaw – asking her assailant ‘why are you doing this?’.
According to the NY Post, Davenport allegedly stabbed Hines repeatedly while ‘in a drug-induced psychosis’.
The witness said she and Hines’ friends really wanted to intervene in the situation but ‘were scared [Davenport] was gonna attack us, too’.
In her 911 emergency call, she told the operator she was unable to perform CPR on the victim because the killer was straddling her.
Although she now lives in Miami, Florida, Aviles attended the trial specifically ‘to help [Hines] out’.
Aviles said:
I want justice, just like everybody else.
At the time of her death Hines’ Oscar-winning Grandfather said:
The world will never know her artistry and talent, and how much she had to offer.
Hines was the daughter of Freeman’s stepdaughter, who he adopted when he married his first wife, Bradshaw.
After the couple divorced, he married Myrna Colley-Lee and during their marriage, she formally adopted Hines and helped raise her.
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of E’Dena Hines.
