The mother of a 5-year-old girl who died while in her father's custody has sued the federal government, saying military police and Army medical personnel failed to report their suspicions of child abuse to the appropriate state authorities, as required by the Army and the state of Hawai'i.

Talia Williams died July 16, 2005, after she was beaten and knocked to the floor of her family's Wheeler Army Airfield apartment. An autopsy found she died of "inflicted head trauma due to battered child syndrome."

The girl's father, Naeem Williams, is on trial for murder for his daughter's death and faces the death penalty. Talia's stepmother, Delilah Williams, admitted in July 2007 that she participated in a pattern of abuse that led to the death of her 5-year-old stepdaughter while pleading guilty to murder.

Prosecutors said she provided an account of the circumstances of the death that included information authorities would not have known about. They approved a plea agreement that calls for her to serve a 20-year term rather than a life sentence for murder.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Friday on behalf of Talia and her mother, South Carolina resident Tarshia Williams, alleges that "active duty military and federal government employees acting within the scope of their employment were aware of the abuse of Talia."

It further alleges that military police, officials at Talia's school, and medical personnel at Army hospitals "failed to report, notify, investigate, assess, treat and protect" Talia from the abuse inflicted upon her from Dec. 24 until her death.

The Army Family Advocacy Program and the U.S. government "negligently breached a duty of due care and violated the obligations imposed by law and military regulations by failing to respond appropriately to the charges of child abuse and by failing to report the allegations to the appropriate state agencies."

U.S. attorney Ed Kubo declined comment on behalf of the U.S. government.

Tarshia Williams also sued the state in July 2007, alleging that state authorities and others were notified about suspected child abuse, but failed to take action that would have prevented the death.

In a news release regarding the federal lawsuit, Tarshia William's attorney, Mark S. Davis said Talia's father — then a Schofield Barracks soldier — was given custody of the girl on Dec. 1, 2004, and moved Talia to O'ahu. Talia lived with Naeem Williams and his wife, Delilah Williams, in military housing until her death seven months later, the news release said.

The complaint alleges during that time, the little girl was severely abused, tortured and ultimately murdered.

Davis said military police were called to the Williams' homes on at least three occasions to respond to complaints of a child screaming. School teachers who suspected abuse and military medical personnel ignored suspicious circumstances that should have been reported to authorities as suspected abuse, he said.

"If the U.S. government did what they were required to do ... every prior incident of suspected abuse, of which there were many, would have been reported to state agencies," Davis said at a news conference yesterday. "It has been, as you can imagine, an extraordinary difficult period of years (for Tarshia Williams). She is completely committed to ensuring an incident like this doesn't happen again."

The lawsuit will be heard before a federal judge and asks for unspecified damages.

Talia was taken to the hospital July 16 after emergency medical personnel were called to the family's apartment and found her unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Talia's death came after what has been described as months of daily beatings, and her body was removed from a blood-spattered apartment.

The day Talia died, Delilah Williams told Army investigators, Naeem Williams spanked Talia with a belt for wetting herself, according to court documents.

He struck her again later that day after she wet herself again. This time the child fell and hit her head on the floor, Delilah Williams said. She lost consciousness, but the Williamses did not immediately call 911. When paramedics arrived, she was unresponsive and without a pulse.