Inside ex-Bull Eddy Curry's tragedy
'A HORRIBLE TIME' | Ex-Bull had met his son just once before getting custody
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May 7, 2010
BY LISA DONOVAN Cook County Reporter
For the first time this week, former Bulls center and Thornwood High School standout Eddy Curry talked about the son he met just one time before tragedy thrust the boy into Curry's life full-time last year.
He had to. Curry was hauled into Cook County Domestic Relations Court for allegedly blocking visits between the 4-year-old and the boy's maternal grandmother, who helped raise the boy when Curry wasn't around.
Curry, who at 7 feet tall had to duck at the doorway to the Loop courtroom, took the stand Wednesday. Dressed in baggy jeans, an olive zip-front sweat shirt and a V-neck T-shirt revealing his tattooed neck, the NBA star was soft-spoken and matter-of-fact as he answered questions about the first time he met the boy.
"I don't know how old he was," Curry testified when asked by Lester Barclay, an attorney serving as the court-appointed representative of Noah Henry-Curry. "I can't guess how old he was. He was in a car seat."
The next time Curry would see the boy was after the boy's mother, Nova Henry -- a friend of Curry's since high school -- and 10-month-old sister Ava were shot to death in a Near South Side condo. The boy was home at the time of the January 2009 slayings. Nova Henry's estranged boyfriend -- against whom she once took out an order of protection -- has been charged in the killings.
Curry, 27, offered similar answers when asked about his daughter Ava.
"The first time I saw her was after she passed," Curry said, his head downcast.
Pressed about why he never met her, he said: "I really can't say, I just didn't."
Barclay asked him how he comforted the boy after winning custody of him in March last year.
"I didn't do anything. I didn't have a relationship with him. I didn't know how to comfort him. It was a horrible time," Curry admitted.
Under additional questioning, Curry confirmed that he has children by three different women and that he had been taken to court when he wasn't keeping up with child-support payments -- despite annual salaries of $7 million to $8 million, he said.
Curry, who now plays for the New York Knicks, was ordered to court this time after the boy's grandmother, Yolan Henry, petitioned for visitation rights, which she claims she had been denied.
The trial ended abruptly Wednesday when the two sides reached a confidential settlement that will allow regular visits with the Henry family.
Even before her daughter's death, Yolan Henry was an integral part of the boy's life, her attorneys said. Afterward, she cared for the boy right up to the time a Cook County judge awarded Curry custody of his son.
The child eventually moved in with his father, Curry's wife and the couple's three children. They reside in White Plains, N.Y., but the Harvey native still has family in the Chicago area and a residence in Burr Ridge.
The distance, since grandmother Henry lives in the Chicago area, made it difficult to see the child, her attorney said during the trial.
Curry and his attorney Kelly Saindon argued that the boy was free to talk with his grandmother daily by phone or via Skype, an Internet video chat service.
But from August to January, Yolan Henry didn't see Noah at all -- and only occasionally talked with him, her attorney Vickie Pasley said. And earlier this year, when the boy underwent surgery, Henry flew to New York but was denied a visit, Pasley said.
Curry acknowledged that Henry was turned away but later told the Chicago Sun-Times: "I said all along she can see him whenever they want. All I want her to do is respect that he's in school'' and that he's got a schedule that shouldn't be interrupted.
Under questioning in the trial, Curry said Noah is doing well -- that he received therapy in those first months he joined his family and that he is now in a daily routine.
"With time, he's healing. I'm doing my best to let him know and tell him I'm here for him and I'm not going anywhere," Curry said.
i knew there was no reason to defend this giant piece of #%#*.
denied visitation, met one kid once. never met the other kid.