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50 Cent 'wants to see his son,' lawyer says

BY LUIS PEREZ | luis.perez@newsday.com

10:20 AM EDT, July 17, 2008

Rapper 50 Cent may reach millions through his hits, but he hasn't seen his son since a Suffolk judge last month signed an order enforcing the hip-hop star's right to do so, his lawyer charged in court Thursday.

"He wants to see his son," said lawyer Brett Kimmel, of Manhattan, who arrived with the rapper for an 8 a.m. court appearance in Central Islip family court.

But Shaniqua Tompkins, who is mother to the hip-hop star's 11-year-old son, Marquise, is concerned about her son's safety after a fire that tore through a 5,200-square-foot Dix Hills home that he owned and she occupied. Tompkins has publicly accused the rapper of setting the blaze.

"She wants Marquise to have access with his father, but with safety precautions in place," said Paul Catsandonis, Tompkins' attorney.

Tompkins, Marquise, and four others escaped the blaze through a second-floor window. Authorities called the blaze suspicious and are investigating it.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, arrived a few minutes before the scheduled appearance Thursday in a white fedora, mint dress shirt and designer jeans. He waited in a hallway corridor, staring out a hallway window.

Tompkins arrived late and sat opposite him down the hallway, but within eyesight.

"I want justice," she said to reporters.

Family Court Judge David Freundlich will consider how to proceed on two motions: a protective order he granted for Tompkins last month, and a petition to enforce Jackson's visitation rights.

Last month, Jackson served Tompkins with a $20 million anti-defamation lawsuit filed in Connecticut, where he has a home, seeking damages for public accusations Tompkins made accusing Jackson of threatening her life a week before the fire.

In a third courtroom in Manhattan, Tompkins is suing Jackson with whom she was romantically involved before he became a famed rapper, for $50 million, saying that she helped him attain his stature and is entitled to part of his estate.