By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The mother of Grammy-winner Ashanti read a litany of vulgar and disturbing text messages she received from an alleged stalker when she testified in court Thursday.
Tina Douglas, mother and manager of the pop star, recalled feeling nauseous and frightened when she saw a text from Devar Hurd, 31, with a photo of Ashanti's car attached.
She said she feared he was in close proximity to her daughter who was rehearsing for an off-Broadway production of "The Wiz" at the time.
Hurd is on trial for allegedly sending explicit text messages and sexually harassing the singer and her family for months. He was arrested at his home in Indiana and has been in New York awaiting trial.
Prosecutors said Hurd sent 31 vile text messages from May 2 to July 19. He is charged with three counts of stalking and 23 counts of aggravated harassment, all misdemeanors. Some of the photos he sent were of a man's genitals, prosecutors said.
Hurd admits to sending the text messages, but claims they were not intended to be harassment, nor was he stalking the singer.
Hurd's attorney insisted the messages were innocent and simply reflective of his desire for companionship and a career.
"What he wanted was what we all want in life: love and work," attorney Richard Berchick said during opening statements.
He called Hurd's messages "gruesome" but said there was never criminal intent.
"Bad form, bad content, but not a crime" Berchick said.
But prosecutors said Hurd also left long, rambling voicemails on Douglas' cell phone and described his deluded personal fantasies about an imaginary relationship with Ashanti.
Most of the explicit sexual mentions were directed at the singer, but sometimes referred to Douglas and her youngest daughter.
Douglas said she had never met Hurd and did not know how he found her number, but that she has thousands of contacts related to Ashanti's entertainment career, which includes album recording, touring and acting in films such as "Resident Evil: Extinction" and "John Tucker Must Die."
