Five-year-old Talia Williams was pulled out of her pre-school and her father was arrested by military police in February after school officials reported finding a bruise on Talia's arm, according to a court-appointed attorney for her stepmother, who is charged in Talia's death.

But a military doctor examined Talia for six hours and told MPs that there was "no sign of child abuse," and Talia was returned to the custody of her father, Naeem Williams, and stepmother, Delilah Williams, said the woman's attorney, Alexander Silvert.

Silvert yesterday for the first time described several incidents in which military police either arrested or detained Naeem Williams after receiving complaints of abuse against the child or her stepmother in the months before Talia's death. Delilah Williams also was detained in one incident in which she called MPs complaining about marital issues.

Silvert's account, related during a detention hearing for his client and in an interview afterwards, is the first detailed description of events leading to Talia's death.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Purpura countered Silvert's claims, saying that Delilah Williams never mentioned instances in which she called military police — or anyone else — to report abuse in her statement to investigators after the child died July 16 .

Talia was found unresponsive at the family's apartment at Wheeler Army Air Base following what court documents called months of abuse by her father and stepmother.

Delilah Williams was charged July 18 with first-degree murder in Talia's death. Naeem Williams, a Schofield Barracks soldier, has been in military custody although no formal charges have been filed.

The Army yesterday declined to comment specifically on Silvert's statements.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry M. Kurren denied bail for Delilah Williams, who will remain in custody until a preliminary hearing. If convicted, Williams faces the death penalty or life in prison.

"At the minimum, she acquiesced to the brutal, horrible series of events that was almost too difficult to read," said Kurren, before issuing his decision. "I believe most definitely there is evidence of the defendant's participation in events leading up to the child's death."

He said Delilah Williams has a mental-health history and is a flight risk who presents a "danger to herself," but did not elaborate on her mental health.

Silvert sought to lay most of the blame for Talia's death on the girl's father, and to portray his client as a woman suffering from depression who was trapped in a psychologically abusive relationship.

"All she didn't do was to stop her husband from beating the child," Silvert said in court yesterday. "Is it wrong? Oh, absolutely. Should she have done something? Sure. Is she a danger? No."

In February, Silvert said, teachers at Schofield's Child Development Center found a bruise on Talia's arm and another on her buttocks. Military police were called and the girl was examined by a military doctor, Silvert said. Naeem Williams was arrested by MPs when he came to pick Talia up after school, he said.

Silvert said the girl was returned to the couple, and the incident was never reported to state Department of Human Service officials. The military and the state have an agreement that requires the Army to report all suspected abuse to DHS.

In another incident, Silvert said, a neighbor called MPs to report abuse on July 4. MPs entered the home, questioned Talia, then left, he said.

The Army yesterday declined to comment about the incidents Silvert described.

"The Army takes this tragic incident very seriously, and an extremely thorough investigation of all aspects involved is being conducted by a team of military authorities," said Stefanie Gardin, a spokeswoman for the 25th Infantry Division (Light) & U.S. Army, Hawai'i in an e-mail. "Domestic violence is serious and this particular incident is tragic. However, in fairness to all parties, we cannot prejudice this or any particular case with speculation."

In an interview after the detention hearing, Silvert said that on Jan. 11, MPs detained both Delilah Williams and Naeem Williams after she called to complain about "marital issues."

Silvert said Delilah Williams called MPs two other times for "marital issues," which he said included complaints that Talia was being hit. He said he did not know the dates for those calls, but said Naeem Williams was taken into custody both times.

Silvert also said Naeem Williams was ordered into counseling by the military but refused. Silvert did not elaborate.

At the hearing yesterday, Delilah Williams, dressed in a light-blue prison-issue top and dark blue slacks, sat with her head in her left hand throughout the proceedings. She did not speak in court, but sobbed after the judge ordered her to remain in custody.

In statements made to military and federal investigators, Naeem Williams said he beat Talia almost daily for wetting herself, according to court documents. Delilah Williams told investigators she hit the child with a belt and hit her with her fist, but said she stopped hitting the child in March or April after Talia retaliated by grabbing the belt and digging her nails into Delilah's arm.

The couple took custody of Talia in December, Silvert said, and the abuse began later that month or in early January.

Silvert yesterday said Delilah Williams spoke with her father — an Army chaplain — friends and relatives, and also with an Army attorney about leaving or divorcing her husband. Silvert said Naeem Williams' commanding officer was seeking to have him discharged from the Army for his behavior.

Purpura, the federal prosecutor, said that in her job as a program specialist with the Army's Child and Youth Registration Office, Williams was required by law to report child abuse and had the phone numbers and knowledge of military procedures required to do so.

Purpura said that when investigators asked Delilah Williams what should happen to her husband after the child's death, she responded that he should "go through classes" but not to prison.

He said the couple wanted to send Talia back to her birth mother or Naeem's parents in Texas but thought they couldn't until the "bruises had healed."

"The life that they had her live and the death that she suffered show these individuals have no regard for human life," Purpura said. "The abuse of this child truly is the stuff of nightmares."

Silvert said Talia's birth mother lost custody of Talia after the girl was hospitalized in South Carolina for two weeks for malnutrition and neglect.

Talia's biological mother, Tarshia Williams, rejected the claims made in court yesterday.

In a telephone interview, she said she never abused or neglected Talia and that she lost custody because the Family Court in Orangeburg, S.C., felt that Naeem Williams could better provide for the child.

"What they are saying is false," Tarshia Williams said. "What happened was that a lot of allegations went on about me and my lifestyle, and I didn't have the support I needed to win the case. It was based on me going against a married person. Naeem had benefits and could give her a better life."

She said her daughter was hospitalized for one week, not two weeks.

Also, Talia was not malnourished and instead suffered from a low birth weight that lasted all of her life, Tarshia Williams said. Her daughter weighed just over three pounds when she was born.

"She has always been behind in weight and was taking steroids to grow," she said.

Tarshia Williams said she has been unable to bring Talia home for a funeral.

"All I know is that the Army wants to run another autopsy on Naeem's behalf," she said. "I want my daughter home. The Army wants to hold her body and do more tests. This guy confesses. What are you going to find?"

Honolulu Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kanthi De Alwis said her office is waiting for the city corporation counsel to determine which of Talia's parents has custody of the child's body.

Naeem Williams' defense attorney wants his client to have custody of the body in order to conduct a second autopsy, she said. If another autopsy is performed, it would not be done in the city morgue, De Alwis said.

"I don't know what they want," she said. "I have done a very thorough autopsy."

The autopsy took an entire day and left the veteran doctor shaken, she said.

"I drove home thinking I should cry out loud or run," she said. "So I jogged six miles."

De Alwis has conducted numerous autopsies on child-abuse victims in her 20 years with the department — including many cases where the violence against the child was more severe.

But the injuries she saw on Talia underscored a level of pain that went well beyond a single incident. This was pain that lasted "for days and weeks," she said.

"This girl suffered over a period of time," she said.