A San Antonio mother facing child abuse charges was indicted by a Bexar County grand jury.
30-year-old Lakendra Monique Williams is charged with assault with intentionally/knowingly causing serious bodily injury to a child.
The 18-count indictment says Williams allegedly caused intentional and serious bodily injury to three children 14-years-old or younger on Feb. 18.
The indictment alleges Williams would hit the children with her hands, feet and a chain she held in her hand, causing the children to kneel on grains of rice. She would also handcuff the children to a bed.
Williams failed to provide food, water and shelter to the children, the indictment states.
Williams and her boyfriend, 34-year-oldWalter Hawthorne, were arrested by San Antonio police Feb. 22 after investigators found a severely emaciated nine-year-old girl in their care.
The two were arrested on suspicion of causing injury to a child, days after they had called 911 because the child was unresponsive.
According to the arrest affidavit, Williams called police on the 18th, saying the child was passed out and cold to the touch.
As first responders arrived, they quickly noticed the girl was “extremely emaciated,” according to the arrest affidavit. The girl weighed 35 pounds, the average weight of a four-year-old child, doctors told the investigators.
Williams told police that the girl, “for some unknown reason,” stopped eating and drinking, according to the affidavit.
The girl was taken to the Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital emergency room due to her condition. Doctors told investigators that the child suffered from extreme malnutrition and had visible injuries and open wounds all over her body. She also tested positive for COVID-19, according to the affidavit.
The girl told the doctors that Hawthorne and Williams kept hitting her with a dog leash until she passed out. She also indicated that she had been shackled around her ankles, which doctors found physical evidence of, according to the affidavit.
The girl “is lucky to have survived,” doctors told investigators in the affidavit.
The suspects blamed the girl in police interviews, according to the affidavit. Hawthorne told officers that the girl was “evil” and just trying to get them in trouble.
“I asked him if the victim is capable of starving herself to death in order to get the defendant in trouble and he said yes,” investigators wrote.
This case is being prosecuted in the 144th District Court.
Assault with intentionally/knowingly causing serious bodily injury to a child is a first degree felony. Williams could be facing five to 99 years or life in prison and a possible fine of up to $10,000.
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