Family stunned by abuse allegations

When the family of Shatanna Shuntay Williams heard she had been jailed for allegedly helping her girlfriend beat an 8-year-old nearly to death, they were stunned.

"She wouldn't do that, that's not her," said William Collins, Williams' uncle.

He and other family members heard about the case this week, in spite of the fact that Williams, 29, has been in jail since Aug. 16 with her girlfriend, Monique Anita Elliott, 28, on charges of child abuse and neglect.

The women are each being held on $400,000 bail.

Collins said he spoke with Williams' father and was in court Friday to find out more details about her case.

She appeared briefly in justice court with Elliott, where a preliminary hearing was set for the couple on Dec. 13.

Collins and Williams' brother, Louis Myles, said Williams has two children, who have been living with a family member since her incarceration. "She's shaken up," Myles said of his sister.

According to a Las Vegas police report, Elliott's 8-year-old daughter was taken to the Sunrise Hospital emergency room with bruises all over her body on Aug. 15, after the child suffered several seizures.

According to the Las Vegas police report, Elliott told police she punished her daughter and 9-year-old son by making them squat and hold telephone books above their heads. The daughter was forced into this position for an unknown period of time, during which Elliott and Williams began to beat her with electrical cords and belts because she misbehaved, the report stated.

Williams' family said she never physically punished her own children.

Elliott's attorney, Gary Guymon, a deputy public defender, said he was reviewing 750 pages of documents on the case.

He said Elliot does not have any criminal history. Her daughter, he said, "is breathing but is unresponsive."