Delilah Williams, the wife of a former Schofield Barracks soldier who is facing the death penalty in connection with his daughter’s death, showed little emotion while testifying Friday in federal court about how the 5-year-old girl was abused at home. 

Williams showed no emotion when she described how she and her husband, Naeem Williams, regularly beat Talia with a belt and plastic ruler they called “Mr. Paddle” for soiling herself. She was emotionless when she described how her husband beat Talia while the girl was bound head to ankles to a bed post with duct tape on multiple occasions. 

In addition, she described the one time she bound Talia to a bedpost in the same manner to beat her, that she put tape over the girls eyes so Talia wouldn’t see from which direction the belt was coming and put tape over Talia’s mouth to muffle the girl’s cries.

The only time Williams showed emotion was when she fought back tears while describing a beating, which occurred on June 29, 2005. On that day, she used a belt to beat Talia for soiling herself and then stomped on the girl she fell to the floor. She said she stomped on her stepdaughter’s stomach, causing Talia to defecate on herself. Williams said she stopped only after feeling what she believed was the crack of a bone under her foot.

Williams testified that she then forced Talia to sit on the toilet and pushed on her stomach. She said the more Talia resisted, the angrier she got and the harder she pushed, breaking the toilet. She said she then lifted Talia up by the hair and banged the girl’s head against the bathroom wall.

Williams said she later told her husband that Talia had soiled herself but didn’t tell him that she had punished the girl. Consequently, Naeem Williams also beat the girl. 

Delilah Williams pleaded guilty to murder in 2006 and is testifying in her husband’s trial according to the terms of her plea agreement with the prosecutor. Her deal calls for her to get a 20-year prison sentence instead of life behind bars.

Talia William’s mother, Tarshia Williams, sat quietly in the back of the courtroom Friday morning, crying to herself as she listened to testimony about the ways her daughter  was regularly beaten before the girl’s death on July, 15 2005.

Naeem Williams, 34, could face the death penalty if convicted of murder. The federal trial allows prosecutors to pursue the death penalty in a state that doesn’t have capital punishment.